"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace." - Frederick Buechner, Now and Then (1983).
It was ninety-two degrees Fahrenheit--and that's without accounting for the effect of humidity--on my mile-long walk home from work yesterday. When my phone dinged with WhatsApp messages, it reminded me of the dry heat I first experienced in Marrakech five years ago. For a moment I was there, in the dusty, chaotic medina derbs. In the stately yet ludicrous-for-the-North African-climate French boulevards of Gueliz. The moment passed, and I found myself walking by the public elementary school on my Brooklyn route.
The vendors' call cut through the folk music I had playing in my headphones: "Lemonaa-aade! Lemonaa-ade!" So that explained the chalk arrows I had started seeing on the sidewalk. I looked up the steps at a bungalow and the two young girls who had their wares advertised.
"Lemonade. $1 a cup. Buy 2 cups get 1 free!!!!!"
"Wow, buy two cups and get one free?" I asked, pausing my music. "That's a great deal."
They smiled and giggled at each other's shyness. Behind them, a grown woman sitting on the steps to the front door grinned at me.
"I don't have any cash, otherwise I would buy some. I hope you do really well with your lemonade stand, though!" I said.
"Well, if you can't buy lemonade, would you like a cup of water?" one of the girls offered.
Talk about a moment that puts you in another time. I was for an instant transported to my high school Sunday School class that was taught by my mom.
We were going through the Gospel according to Matthew, let's say, because my memory isn't perfect and that's the version of this saying that popped into my head at the moment. Here's the passage I thought of:
"And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." (Matthew 10:42, KJV)
I always thought of this sentence as an exhortation to go around doing little kindnesses for other people, and that's not a bad lesson to take away. But there's more to it. The person speaking here is Jesus, and the "little ones" he's referring to are his disciples, who are grown men. "Whoever blesses you will be blessed themselves," he's saying. "Let them bless you."
It's not often I think of accepting others' little kindnesses as a way to bless them.
When that little girl offered me a cup of water, I hesitated for an instant. I really didn't have any cash. I didn't want to take anything I couldn't pay for. But there she stood, hopeful that she could bless me on my walk home. Thankfully, my ego was no match for her magnanimity.
"Thank you, that is so kind!" I said, and gratefully accepted the plastic cup filled with room temperature water. As I said goodbye and continued my walk home, the vendors' calls resumed: "Lemonaa-aade! Lemonaa-aade!"
My heart sang along with them and I couldn't stop grinning the rest of the hot, humid walk home.
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