“Gift of God” (06/27/2025)

I was in Sioux City, visiting family but primarily visiting my mother who had fallen and was in the hospital as the medical team were trying to figure out why she was falling so frequently. I needed a bit of fresh air, so I walked outside. I had hoped to sit on the bench, but there was already a woman sitting there. She noticed my glance, and she motioned to me that I could sit there, too.

I thanked her and took my seat. She noticed my earrings and complimented me. I told her they were gifts from my husband who also gave me the necklace I was wearing. She touched the chain around her neck and followed it to the large cross. “This is my only jewelry,” she told me. I told her how beautiful it was. Then I shared with her that I have a special cross, too. I pulled out my pocket cross. She smiled as I handed it to her so she could see it better. “Oh,” she said, “this is beautiful.” I watched her looking at it, tracing the figure of Jesus on the cross. “It’s yours,” I told her.

“Oh, I can’t take it,” she said, looking at me with disbelief. “You’re not taking it,” I told her, “I am giving it to you.” She took my hand and kissed it.

“What is your name,” I asked. “Dorothy,” she replied. “You know your name means ‘gift of God’?” She looked at me intently. “Really?”

I assured her it was not only the meaning of her name but that she was embodying her name well. She smiled. Then she asked me my name. I told her, “Kate.”

We chatted for a bit longer. I learned that her birthday, her 86th birthday, was the next day. I wished her a blessed and happy birthday. I told her I had thought she was about my age. She asked me how old I was, and when I told her I was 75, she giggled and said that I had given her a second gift in just a matter of minutes. We both laughed.

As I got up to leave, she wished me well and thanked me again for the pocket cross I gave to her. And I thanked her for being the “gift of God” I needed in the moment.

As I pondered my time with Dorothy, I was again amazed by how the LORD knows my needs, even before I do, and how the LORD tends to me as a shepherd tends to his sheep. We are blessed daily by the ways of the LORD, by the providential intersecting of our lives with the lives of others. I thought of Dorothy’s generosity and graciousness, offering me a place to sit. I thought of her noticing minute details about me – being really present to me. She certainly was living her name – “Gift of God.”

I know that the LORD loves each and every one of us. I know that the LORD sends to us what we need. Some dismiss it as a coincidence. But we who love the LORD and know the way the LORD’s love works, we call it providence.

May the LORD surprise you this day!

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.