Free Lunch (06/05/2024)

Yesterday, I took my mother and sister to lunch. My mother loves liver, but I personally hate to cook it. So, I decided to do the next best thing, pay someone else to cook it. So, we headed off to the local diner at lunch time.

While we were there, I met several friends. We visited briefly, and I introduced them to my mother and sister. Lunch went well; mother liked the liver! We had to wait quite a while for the waitress to return with our ticket because she was so busy. When she did come back to our table, she told us our meals had been paid for “by an anonymous diner.” We thanked her, left a tip for her on the table, and left feeling not only satisfied with our meal but blessed by another’s kindness.

I am not sure who it was that paid for our lunches. At first, I wish that I did. Okay, I still wish that I did know. However, it is quite a blessing to consider that it could have been any of the ones I met at the diner.  That possibility expanded my sense of blessings. The rest of the day, I kept thinking of the kindness of a friend and the blessings of friendship. It made my day! It made my month!

A friend’s generosity and graciousness buoyed me yesterday and gave me cause to reflect on my own friends and how I share myself, my time, and my resources with them. As I ended my day in reflection with the LORD, I gave thanks for friends and loving kindnesses I’d received, and I prayed that I might live as a true friend to others.

There is so much that we can do for one another along the way. Sometimes it will be sharing our resources, but most of the time it is simply sharing ourselves, taking the time to be there for one another, to listen, to encourage, to share moments. The LORD desires that we have this companionship. We are recreated in relationship for relationship. Recall that we are created “in community” – into a family. Recall that the LORD sent out His disciples in pairs.

Today, let us take time to recognize our relationships and to give thanks for them. And perhaps we will be moved to reach out to one another in words, gestures, and loving kindnesses.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.