I stared at the box of chocolates I was holding in my hand.
An unexpected pleasure, they'd arrived with a note from a friend in response to a letter and gift book I'd sent her a couple of weeks earlier.
Although I didn't realize it at the time, my friend had been feeling quite despondent; she was leaving her job with an organization that had been 'home' for 30 years and she was finding out how deep her roots had gone down.
When I first heard that she was resigning, I felt a quiet urging inside to send her a note of encouragement. Almost without thinking, I picked up my pen that evening and words tumbled out.
They came as a spontaneous thought... send her something that helped you during your own experience of dramatic change; give her the image that, like any plant being transplanted, she may feel and look a bit wilted as she adjusts and sets down new roots, but soon she will flourish in her new environment.
In her note, my friend told me that I had shared exactly what she needed to hear. My words had given her a glimmer of hope that, yes, there would be life after this job.
My heart was bursting out at the seams with the wonder of it. I loved it! As a writer, this is what it's all about...bringing the right message to the right person at the right time, and being so bang on, that in a twinkling someone's life is changed and their spirits are lifted.
By the way, my friend is now established in her new position and LOVES it! She says she still reads my note and the book I sent....and is now even considering passing it along to someone else who is facing her own set of challenges.
To me, that's working with the Divine to bring about a little 'heaven on earth'. And you may be interested to know, the chocolates were celestially divine too!
How sweet it is!
Brenda
that's what friends are for. my best friend just sent me a diabetes cookbook which will be used. no chocolates for me. inspiration does come but we sometimes don't always listen...
ReplyDeleteDo you happen find this too, Lin... that inspiration tends to come most often wrapped in a whisper or a feather thought?
ReplyDeleteIt rarely comes like a large thunder clap. When a person thinks about it, it would be quite startling to keep getting jolts out of the blue like that!
You have figured out what it is that we're supposed to be doing with the life... being an angel to others in small and significant ways. Thank you for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteCindy
My very thought about your post... "How sweet it is"!
ReplyDeleteIt's even better than chocolates to know that you were someone's angel unaware, and were able to salve a sorrowing heart, or lift the world from a weary shoulder for a while.
There's a song that has a line
"The questions rain down like thunder, but the answer is more like a whisper"... It's a favorite by a singer/songwriter named Hilary Weeks. How truly comforting it is that there are souls such as yours who listen for the whisperings that allow you to be the "answer" in someones time of questioning and fear.
mom/caryn, How sweet indeed! And better than chocolate! That's how I feel too!
ReplyDeleteI'm working on an article about inspiration being like whispers... I'd love to include the song line you mention...it's fits so perfectly!