Marianna (10/11/2024)

My two daughters and I took Aunt Martha who is visiting for a few days out on adventure. We began with lunch at a quaint restaurant on Madison’s southeast side. We settled into our booth and were chatting when she appeared at our table and with the most beautiful accent she began, “Hello. Do you know what you want?” We explained that we didn’t have a clue because we’d been busy chatting. Then I did what I always do, I asked, “What is your name?” She answered, “Marianna.”

Then she did what few do, she asked us our names. So, we went around the table and told her: Kendra, Kirsten, Kate and Martha. She repeated our names with a grin on her face. She’d gotten them all correct.

I followed up with a second question. “Tell us Marianna, where you are from originally? Your accent is beautiful.” She looked us one by one, then smiled and said, “Guess my ethnicity.” We immediately engaged in the game. We guessed Albanian, Yugoslavian, Croatian, Russian, Italian, Greek. She gave us a clue, “No, it begins with ‘A’.” We tried Austrian, Australian, Argentinian. She finally told us she was Armenian. But she added, “However I have never been to Armenia. Guess where I was born. It begins with I.” Knowing Armenia is near Iran, that was our first guess. But it was wrong. After a series of incorrect stabs, she grinned and told us, “I was born in Israel.”

And our connection with Marianna was sealed. For nearly two hours, she’d check on us and visit with us by name and we’d use her name as we mentioned requests and offered our thanks. As we were leaving, she called to us by name, telling us goodbye. When we reached the parking lot, Martha had to talk about the experience. The girls just smiled. They were used to the unexpected that follows their mother’s questions.

We are all called to be servants to one another. But being another’s “servant” doesn’t rob us of our worth; actually it increases it. And so, it makes sense to me that we should want to honor the one who is making good things possible by acknowledging them with their name. That gesture, that small gesture, says “I see you.”  Over the years, I have been amazed at what that small gesture can bring.

As we follow in Christ’s footsteps, we can’t help but realize that brings with it the personal encounter, the knowledge of another and the authentic concern for them. It’s not a gimmick. It’s a part of the way, it’s an invitation to the other to be themselves, the ones the LORD created them to be. It’s an invitation to “being,” acknowledging that they are more than “doings” – they are more than their jobs.

As is so for so much of “the way,” it isn’t going to add an onus to our day. It isn’t going to “cost us.” But it will lead to rewards, not always for us, but we’re okay with that because as disciples we learned early on the journey that it really isn’t all about us.

What did my daughters, Aunt Martha and I gain from our exchange yesterday? We came to know another a bit better. We realized anew the journeys that others have had to make isn’t always visible. We were reminded that each of us matters and what a wonderfully rich patchwork humanity is.

May our journeys be blessed by encounters and exchanges along the way that call us to be ourselves, the ones the LORD created us to be, and the disciples Christ calls us to be, and may we acknowledge gratefully the presence and gifts along the way of others.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.