Home
Page
Click
here for more stories from Patty
Roses
background from:
|
REFLECTIONS
Featured writer, Patty Zemanick
A
Woman With a Runny Nose
A few years
ago, I regularly attended meetings “support group” style. It was
a good place to go when my emotional battery needed to be recharged, and
I always left feeling better for having been there. Although each
meeting was wonderful, one in particular remains “unforgettable.”
I wish I could say it was because someone said something that deeply moved
me, inspired me or shed light on an area of confusion. But I can’t.
Nope – this meeting became “unforgettable” because of a woman with a runny
nose.
You see
– I was sitting in a room with probably 20 other folks all trying to squeeze
around a large oblong table. Directly across from me sat a woman
with an atrocious head cold or allergies or something of that nature.
In any case, she had a severely drippy nose. Yikes – and no Kleenex
in sight. I did my best to stay focused on what was being discussed.
Really I did. But I’m easily distracted. As people spoke I
found myself watching this woman (of course it was out of the corner of
my eye – it would have been rude to stare). Anyway, the drippier
her nose got, the more distracted I became. I really felt for her,
after all – what was the poor woman to do? She did what anyone else
would do in that situation; she wiped her nose on the back of her hand…
again and again.
When
the meeting finally came to a close – we all joined hands to pray “The
Lord’s Prayer.” I quickly sighed with relief and silently spoke to
God, “Thank you Lord for placing the woman
with the runny nose across the room from me so I don’t have to hold her
hand.”
(Awful I know, but I was still wearing my Christian training wheels – if
you know what I mean.) Just then she broke the circle of joined hands,
walked to where I was standing and proceeded to take hold of my hand –
with the hand she’d been wiping her nose with. As others bowed their
heads in prayer, I looked toward the heavens smiling from ear to ear.
From where I stood I could almost hear God laughing. Not just a giggle
– it was more like a full-blown, gut-busting belly laugh.
Do you
believe God has a sense of humor? I know he does!
Patty
Click
on mailbox to
send
us a note
or
your prayer request.
|