The Eyes of God
It was a hot day, sun beaming down bright, with no clouds to offer relief. She was sitting innocently beside the hardware store with her head slightly down staring at the ground. I too was lost in thought not knowing where my next meal would come from. I asked if I could join her as she meditated over the issues of the world. Thank goodness she agreed and for the next three hours two 14 year old dreamers shared life through the eyes of hope and pain.
It wasn't the economy, employment, or even foreign policy that ignited our logic. We shared our journey, as short as it may have been, and how we arrived at this place at this moment in time. You could call it divine intervention or mere chance, either way I call it a miracle. This was a day or I should say an exact moment in time that my dreams had given way to survival and my hope for the future had all but subsided. All we knew is that what we had was right now and right here. We could have lamented over how bad life was. Luckily that skill only comes along later in life. However we took the time to kindle a friendship that has lasted a lifetime, even though we never saw each other again. A friendship at heart that provided hope and set the sails for a life that no one could have imagined.
Two hearts frozen in time. The common thread was hunger, hope, and loneliness. We did not complain, for that required more energy than we could surrender. We smiled, then laughed, shared dreams, created hope, set goals, and imparted wisdom that the highest educated professors could not have shared. We, somehow at our young age understood life. We knew the art of survival, how to find food, where other people trolled in similar situations. We literally planted seeds of life that would eventually sprout into vines that encompass the hearts of many.
A hot sunny morning that started with a glimmer of hope and hunger urges with no means of satisfaction, ended with the miracle that would change my life forever.
When he got there I could feel the fear well up in her. I immediately wanted to shield her from harm. His demeanor was abrasive and his attitude hollow to the core. She was nothing to him other than a means to make money. My heart sank as she stood up. I urged her to run, I knew a path that would give us an escape from the ugly world to which she was returning. She hold my hands and said "I will be fine, this is my survival". She asked her man friend for a couple minutes to say goodbye.
In those few minutes we wrote the book of life and no pens or pencils were even used. So close, yet so far way, were two hearts with nothing left to say. Emotions told the story, our eyes wrote the lines. It wasn't the hunger we sought to relieve, it was the two hearts beating as one and the soul that said we must simply believe. As our hands dropped and she turned away, we both knew that it had to end that way. She got in the car, the door slammed shut, and with one last glimpse I knew we would never cross paths again.
It isn't the moments in life that play out on stage that make us who we are, it is those moments that God brings two people together and allows heart, mind, and soul to create something that no mere man could ever do. We neither had to grow up and preach the Gospel, we didn't have to attend an Ivy League school, it wasn't the profession we chose that would make the difference in our lives. What started out as nothing has since grown into something. We never even knew each others names but I have no doubt that my friend of 40 years has made an impact on the world in ways we never could believe. And to think it all started sitting beside a building all those years ago.
Never overlook the little things in life for one day you will look back and realize they were really the big things. God sets the wheel of life in motion yet it is up to us to capture the moments that make dreams come true and hope become real. What others saw as hopeless young prostitute, I saw the eyes of God. My life changed at that very moment, not because it had too but because I chose for it too. The signs were clear, it was time to choose. My choices were obvious. Stay on the path I was on and live a life of mediocrity, at best or set my sights high and move forward with integrity and courage. Never going around obstacles but going through them. Picking people up along the way and helping them see that the light in the tunnel is hope it isn't a train. I remember the last words I said to her as she walked away, "pain is real my friend but so is hope". In those final words I found the keys to the lock that had blocked my young heart for way too long. As empty as my heart was as the car sped away I suddenly knew that the most powerful force on earth was the human soul on fire. She was the spark and I will bare the torch forever.
People truly do come into our lives for reason, season or lifetime. In this case, these three hours were for a reason. A reason I understand fully to the depths of my being. I saw God that day in the eyes of a 14 year old girl, and what makes me smile the most is that I truly believe she saw the eyes of God in me.
peace be with you
Dale
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