A Teaching Moment

I was at the airport, waiting to pick up my honey. A woman and a boy waited with me. They were clearly excited, the young boy dancing from foot to foot as he leaned on the ropes. Then he came back and leaned against the woman, the two of them swaying from side to side. I wondered who they were so eagerly awaiting. A husband and dad home from the war? A couple of beaming grandparents? A sister or brother?

I watched them looking for the one they loved to appear through the revolving door. I became caught up by their longing, their happy hope, their anticipation and yearning for one who would make them complete in some way. That is when God took over.

I was aware of their longing, then of many longings, finally of a world full of longings and desires and hopes and dreams. For that one moment, full of sacred mystery, I saw humanity as God must know humanity--a seething cauldron of loves, impulses, desires and yearnings. No barriers, no need for one to win and another to lose, no differences; simply a cacaphony of hopes and longings. A world of passion and vitality. An amazing moment. A gift.

A gift that came and went in the twinkling of an eye.

God has been trying to teach me compassion. I am not a very good student, so it is good that God is a very good teacher. I recall one lesson in which I was making a purchase in a retail store. The young woman behind the cash register was made no eye contact and wearily asked me if I was paying with cash or credit card. No better at the holiness thing than I ever have been, my normal response is to bristle. But God gifted me with compassion in that moment. I recalled times when I was bored and weary of a job, and God put me inside that weariness. I spoke, she looked at me and for a moment we shared life together. It was a God moment. It was a teaching moment.

But this moment today--this was an even deeper insight into compassion--a glimpse of a compassion so projound it took my breath away. I hope that it leaves even a trace on my soul and a lingering bit of light in my life.

Suddenly the woman and young boy began dancing from one foot to the next, pointing through the revolving door and hugging each other. A smiling older woman strode through the door. The boy flung himself into her arms, then danced to one side as the two women hugged each other. Whoever they were and whatever they meant to each other, they were reunited, hopes fulfilled, longings satisfied, happiness overflowing.