“It can. And I just had the best day. Anyway, you?”
“I couldn’t wait to tell you that I actually had a really great interaction with the person that I have been telling you about. I mean, we’re not best friends or anything, but I felt like we connected on a deeper spiritual level than we ever had before. And I took time to listen to them, and they took time to listen to me. And…I guess I wouldn’t have said communication is everything, but I think it’s attitude and the way you look at things. And yeah, I just had a whole shift today. Isn’t that cool that both of us kind of had breakthroughs?”
“I think it’s because I’ve been talking to you, and I’ve been deliberately trying to make sure that I am thinking about the Lord, trying to do what pleases Him. And trying to look at the world through His eyes. After all, this person that I have so much trouble getting along with is a beloved child of God, and God loves them. I should too.”
“That’s such a great way to look at it. I don’t know if it’ll stay, because I’m going to have to work with this person tomorrow.” He thought about the Christmas program and the practice that they would need to have. Would he and Nelly be able to get along through that? He wasn’t sure. Up until that point, they’d argued at every turn,but hopefully today’s interaction with her gram was a turning point. He thought maybe he’d been able to ease her mind a little bit, and she certainly surprised him by being kind to him, and also…he realized exactly how much she had on her plate. Not just working all day in the classroom, but coming home and taking care of her gram, grading papers, and now spearheading the Christmas play. Of course she was overwhelmed and busy.
He really admired her too, for being willing to take care of her gram. So many people just threw up their hands and placed them in a home.
But Nelly was doing the hard thing—juggling her work and trying to take care of her gram at the same time. He realized that she probably wouldn’t be able to continue to do that forever, and he felt a little bit bad for her, which was new. Usually, he just felt annoyed with her.
“I just wanted to thank you for encouraging me to be like Jesus. It’s really made a difference in the way that I’ve been walking through the world. Thank you,” he said, feeling like this whole shift that he had with Nelly was completely the result of the interactions he had with his Secret Saint partner.
“I have to say, I’ve been thinking the same thing. I think the change I had today in a positive direction was because of you. I really appreciate you always encouraging me to live on a higher plane. It’s been inspiring. Thank you.”
They stood there for a bit, and he didn’t know about her, but under his ski mask, he was smiling.
“You really helped me challenge my misconceptions of other people,” she said softly. “And not only have I learned to keep my eyes out to watch for things that aren’t obvious to everyone—a woodpile that’s too low, a porch that needs to be repaired and hasn’t been for a while, or just watching as a child opens their lunch from home, and they have a banana and a slice of buttered bread.”
“I think we’ve talked about that before. How doing this hasopened my eyes to others, and you’ve kept me and encouraged me to consider my actions.”
“I don’t think I’ve done that on purpose.”
“No. But I’ve watched you and listened to you. You’ve been very considerate of other people, just knowing what they want or need, and I think that’s really important…” He paused. “Sometimes it frustrates me when I see family members not taking care of their family. You know?” He thought about Nelly again, how she was sacrificing to make sure that her grandma had someone taking care of her.
“I know what you mean. Like family members who could, but are too selfish, and choose not to. Or…maybe they just don’t get along, and they don’t want to make the effort to do something nice for someone that they really don’t like.”
“Yeah, we can’t get past our feelings to do what’s right. Isn’t that a core principle of Christianity? Not worrying about your feelings, but doing what’s right regardless of how you feel.”
“It’s amazing how people act like their feelings are validated and that because they feel a certain way, it totally negates anything that the Bible teaches.”
“I’ve seen that over and over again, and I’ve even caught myself doing it at times. I hate to admit that, but it’s true.” He thought about how he had treated Nelly at times. He had not liked her and so acted like it was okay for him to not be nice, even though the Bible clearly taught that a person should be kind.
“Oh my goodness, I’ve definitely done the same. And our feelings can be so strong. We just kind of get caught up in a whirlwind of how we feel, and we don’t stop to think, ‘Is this really the way I want to act?’”
“Yeah, because every day we do things, we are building our reputation. And I’ve always thought that I want to have a reputation as someone who was levelheaded and kind, but as I look back on my life, I can see why people would think differently, you know?”
“Yeah. We don’t stop to think that it’s the little moments that build our reputation. I guess somehow we just think that the way we think about ourselves is the way everybody else should think about us too, but if our actions don’t say what we want them to, then people aren’t going to get the right impression.”
“You’re right.” He hardly ever had this deep of a conversation with anyone, but then he thought about the conversation that he had with Nelly in the kitchen. He actually had talked about things that he hadn’t talked about with anyone before. He’d been inspired to say it to try to help her, but she hadn’t laughed at him, or rolled her eyes, or acted like someone like him shouldn’t be talking about deep spiritual things. Instead…it’s almost like she’d been impressed.
He’d certainly been impressed with her.
He and his partner changed the subject and began to talk about things that they could do the next night and laid some plans down for some bigger Secret Saint activities. The closer they got to Christmas, the more they wanted to see how many and how much they could help. It was like they were totally on the same page. It was interesting how God had provided him a partner with whom he was so in tune and so compatible.
He left feeling happy clear down to his soul. Not just because of his interaction with his Secret Saint, although that was a good bit of it. She was perfectly compatible, and he knew that his feelings for her were deepening, even though he really didn’t know who she was or anything else about her. He did know her heart was pure. And he thought it was probably okay to continue working with her, even though he was skating dangerously close to being emotionally involved and attached.
What was the worst that could happen?
But he also felt good because of what had happened with Nelly that day. Instead of being unkind and sarcastic, the way he usually was, he’d done something nice, and it had made him feel so much better about himself and the world in general.
And on top of that, Nelly had responded in kind, reflecting the way he had acted. So maybe, maybe instead of all of those years of competition, if he had just been kind, maybe she would have responded in a good way, and their years of constantly trying to one-up the other would have never happened. Maybe they would even have been…friends.
Chapter Seventeen
Nelly arrived early and parked at the church.
She’d been so excited about all the good things that had happened yesterday that she hadn’t slept very well. Not during her nap before she got up at midnight to go meet her Secret Saint partner, nor when she got back.
