One of my unexpected visitors that I spoke about was an elderly gentleman, Willard. Willard is my hubby’s mom’s husband. We haven’t seen him much since James’ mom passed away. It was a wonderful visit. He is a loving, gentle man who loves God, loves to talk to God and about God and gives God all glory and honor.
He taught me something the day he arrived.
He got a bit turned around as he was driving to our place and arrived quite a bit later than he thought he would and arrived in time for dinner about 6:30pm. As we were unloading his car he said, “What a wonderful day it was!” I chuckled a bit because I knew he had to have had a long day driving and some confusion with getting lost and such. I asked him what time he left home and replied softly, “I think I left there about 10:30 this morning.”
Wow! Just wow! What is typically a 4 hour drive, give or take depending on traffic, turned into a 10 hour “wonderful day”! I was stunned. There was not an ounce of frustration in him, not a bit of anger, no complaining. Just pure simple peace and a focus on the wonderful day.
He said to me, “I know God is determined to make me smile, so I just smiled and enjoyed the day.”
I have never met anyone like this. Is this the peace that St. Seraphim talks about when he says, “Acquire peace and a thousand around you will be saved.”? Because just hearing him talk so peacefully about his day makes me think of this. As I reflect on this interaction a couple of days after the fact I have found myself in awe, even more so than originally.
Willard knows nothing of St. Seraphim, he isn’t an Orthodox Christian, but he sure has the spirit of St. Seraphim. I pray some day I may have such peace because I feel pretty sure that if that was my day I wouldn’t have handled it quite the same.
When things get tough in the day may we find peace in each moment knowing our Lord is with us, carrying us through, giving us strength and if we let Him, peace and joy.
Kindler of Joy! 
Good one!
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Thanks, Francis. I love it when we can learn from other people. When things they say or just do opens our eyes to a deeper, fuller life. I think the older we get the easier this becomes.
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Thank you. I needed this, along with my coffee. Today has the potential to be a humdinger!!! ❤️🙏❤️
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I hope your day turned out to be a day with smiles.
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Thank you! Bad news with mom but not really unexpected, nor surprising. But it was not insane and we had laughs and hugs, too!
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What strikes me is his positive view of a loving God. Believing that God wants us to smile has to make the biggest difference in how we filter everything. Very beautiful! Thanks for sharing.
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I agree!
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This reminded me of an interaction I had today, when there was something negative described, and the person I was talking to just quietly went, “Thank God!” It hit me then, and it hit me again now, that we are supposed to thank God for all things.
Wonderful post!
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