So there were TWO very long furniture-delivery trucks parked on Jefferson Avenue in front of my house, taking up at least a third of the block.
They were there for me.
Thinking that I could simply order dining room chairs on the Internet, I did so and the first and second sets of six chairs were being picked up (it hurt to sit in the first set and the second set bore little resemblance to their picture), while the third set (which I had visited at the store in person) was being delivered. This involved two different stores – Slumberland and HOM Furniture.
Slumberland arrived first, made their pick up and the drivers then discovered they had locked their keys in the truck. Apologetically, they came in and asked to borrow a coat hanger. As the Slumberland guys struggled for forty-five minutes in the freezing cold, the HOM van pulled up. They made their pick up and delivery in the house and proceeded to help the Slumberland guys with the door. After about twenty minutes, they gave up and left.
I called to the Slumberland guys to come in and warm up, which they did. They also asked if they could have another coat hanger because they “almost had it” but the hanger bent.
Then it was one of those moments when having a basement full of stuff paid off. I said, “Wait!” and raced to the basement and proceeded to bring forth something I had bought for the garden—I have no idea why – a yard-long piece of sturdy metal with a circle on the end.
“How about this?”
“Well, maybe,” they said.
The door opened on the first try.
Sometimes the best gifts come from the basement—that part of your life that you think is useless or irrelevant –but is the missing piece of a puzzle someone else has struggled with for a long time.
Maybe it’s not a thing but an invitation to someone not on your A-list, a good word or compliment to someone you usually ignore, or something unexpected given to someone who wouldn’t think a gift would be coming (at least from you).
…”And the world is about to turn” as the hymn goes. Pope Francis is Time magazine’s Person of the Year. What a turn of events! What recognition of the power of love and working creatively and with great heart.
Be part of it. Turn the old patterns on their heads this season.
See you in church…
Barbara
