A Lesson Learned

I had the most interesting day today. I'm not sure you'll think it so, but I did. I learned a lesson today that I don't want to forget. Be patient, I'll get to it.

It's been really hot here for a couple of weeks. Really hot. Did I say it's been hot here lately? As much as possible I've stayed in because even though I hate the cold this heat has been rough. Earlier in the week I visited by phone with an old friend - I haven't seen her in over a year but we talk once or twice a month. She always asks if I'm coming her way any time soon; it's about an hours drive for me and I do go occasionally to run errands there that I can't do here. I told her that I'd try to come up today and would stop to see her. Yesterday I tried hard to back out of it. It's hot for heaven's sake. I kept telling myself I didn't need to go, my errands could wait, gas is so expensive, it might be cooler next week. But when I got up this morning it was just on my heart that I wanted/needed to see her. So off I went.

Now I don't want to be all pious or self grandizing or anything. Before I went to visit with her I went to the quilt shop. :) I found a perfect color fabric for the backing to this quilt. And a couple of fat quarters. Or five. It could have been five.

And I also stopped by a store that was advertising they were buying gold. Do you think this might have been a pawn shop? It didn't look like one and I've never been in one but it could have been. They only had jewelry though. No guitars or bicycles or televisions or stuff like that. Do you know the price of gold now? Good grief! I had some broken necklaces, a couple of single earrings (I think earrings are like socks - something must eat just one!), an anklet and ring I bought in the Bahamas years ago and never wore (I just can't see an almost 62 year old woman in an anklet, can you?), you know, odds & ends. They paid me $275 for that stuff that was broken or that I hated or hadn't worn in 10 years! I am rollin' in dough! I digress.

Then I went to see my friend. We talked and talked and talked for an hour and a half without breathing I think. I always go to see this friend and she never comes to me because there is an Interstate Highway connecting us. She has a terrible fear of driving or even being in a car on an Interstate. You see, her precious 29 year old daughter died on a highway just like that one about 10 years ago. Today we/she talked and talked about her daughter; things she said, the kind of person she was, what her friends said about her, things she had said to her mother before she died. That kind of stuff. I think maybe there are a lot of people who won't mention her daughter by name in their conversations, who don't give this precious mother the chance to talk about her child. It's really easy to be apprehensive about mentioning someone who died; we don't want to bring up painful memories. But the thing is, those memories are always there whether or not we bring them up. When someone mentions my mother or my dad to me I might or might not want to talk about them, but I'm always grateful that they are mentioned because I haven't forgotten. No, I haven't forgotten. Apparently, today my friend was ready to talk. I've never lost a child and, please God, I pray I never will. But I know that I would never want my child to be forgotten. I would want to know that people remember and have loving thoughts about my child. The lesson I learned today is that sometimes God nudges us to do things and we don't realize it's Him nudging us. I didn't know that she needed a visit today but God knew. And He loved her so much that He prodded me to get up and go. I stalled but He persevered. Isn't He just amazing?

P.S. If you think about someone today and think, "I ought to call her." then do it. Just do it. If you think about someone today and think, "I wonder how she is; I haven't talked to her in a while." Call her. God might be nudging you too.