Encouragement

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In the last few weeks, I seem to be spending a great deal of time around kitchen tables. It’s not that I’m necessarily spending that time eating, it’s more like people are taking that time to delve into the inner workings of my mind.

I’m wondering why so many people find it so important to sit me down to talk with me right now. I have a feeling it’s because of some strange circumstances that have become part of my very existence, but my life has never been normal, at least not as far back as I can remember.

I recently spent a few days with my grandparents. As I carried in my bags, Gram sat down at the table and waited ever-so-patiently for me to return from the bedroom. As I did, she began to talk to me about my life.

I’ve always been close to my grandma, Opal. We just sort of hit it off from the day I was born, and I spent a considerable amount of time there while I was growing up.
Not that I don’t dearly love my parents, but for some reason I can’t explain, I always run to Gram when I have something on my mind. Truth be known, I think Gram kind of likes it, and I’m OK with that.

During a recent visit with my mother, we began to talk about my future. Again, we sat around the kitchen table as we explored a few of the many options I have open right now, and how I was coping with a few oddities in my life.

I don’t find it strange that my family sat me down to talk to me at the kitchen table, but what I find increasingly odd is that my friends are starting to do the same thing. But then again, sometimes friends are more like family than you think.

Last weekend, someone very special invited me to a birthday party. We were on a strict deadline with our newspaper's basketball preview and it wasn’t coming together very well for me. I wanted to go out to eat, but I wasn’t sure if it was what I really should do. I needed to be at the office working on those pages, but something in me just needed out of the building.

Paul and Wanda have become like family to me. Every Sunday morning for the last three or four years, I’ve walked into the sanctuary, most of the time late, to see a warm smile and a big hug waiting for me. As soon as they can get their arms around me, I hear a soft voice whisper, “I love you,” in my ear.

I always walk away with a smile, knowing that they’re sincere. I’m not real sure why it means so much to me, I just know that it does.

So, when I received an email last Friday afternoon, I was honored. After making the decision to go, I felt peace that those pages would come together, and all would again be fine with the world.

After a fun dinner with some wonderful people at O’Charley’s, Wanda whispered in my ear to come over to their house with the rest of their family. I wasn’t really sure about it, but it was Wanda, so I went.

As I walked into the kitchen, Wanda asked me to sit down. Here I am again, around yet another kitchen table. At first, we just chatted about everything and nothing. Then as we sat around the table, the conversation began to change.

We were now back to that conversation that I had become oh-so-familiar with. It quickly moved to me and my life, but this conversation was different. This time the chat was about a deeper me. The me that only a few people really know, and Paul and Wanda were part of the few. The few that I only realized existed but a short time ago.

I’ve had several conversations with their daughter, Paula, and son-in-law, Ray. I don’t have any doubts that they know me, but I’ve never really sat down and talked to Paul and Wanda like this. I usually cry on the shoulders of big brother Ray and sista Paula. But this time it wasn’t crying on anyone’s shoulder.

It’s not that I don’t want to let people get to know me, I guess I’m just more complicated than I thought. As Paul sat and absorbed the conversation, Wanda asked the questions, gave me the parable and moved on. The thing that gets me is how she knew just what to say and how to say it.

I know that God puts people in our lives for a reason, but sometimes it’s just too awesome how He knows exactly what I need and when I need it. That’s pretty much how I feel about my last encounter at the kitchen table.

God put that sweet and wonderful couple in my life for a reason, and I feel very blessed to have them as a significant part of my life.

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