Tonight some friends and I are having a Girls Night Harvest Party Dinner. I am brining cranberry sauce and a salad. After work today I drove to Trader Joe's where I picked up the necessary supplies for my dishes. As I was leaving the parking lot someone caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. Standing on the sidewalk next to my car was a petite woman, middle aged, with long brown hair, and skin tanned by years in the sun. My glance at her was prolonged, but then hurried on by the demanding cars behind me. I turned out of the parking lot, and into the left hand turning lane leading me towards the freeway, and then on home. I sat at the red light for a few moments before I realized that I needed to go back. I made an illegal and unsafe right turn, and drove back towards Trader Joe's parking lot. My heart began to beat fast as I started to think, "What if she's gone?" I drove closer to where she had been standing, and couldn't see her. I drove closer still, and saw that she was squatting down on the ground, sign in hand, covering most of her tiny body. I pulled out of the parking lot, and onto a "NO PARKING AT ANYTIME" curb. I pulled some money out of my wallet and approached the woman. I was feeling the pressure from the sign above my parking spot, the engine still running in my car, and the cars swerving around mine as they passed. I stepped over the shrubbery, and handed her the money. "Happy Thanksgiving," I said awkwardly, "bless you." She looked at me as she held out her small hand. She was worn, yet somehow fresh, and beautiful. Something in her face was like a little girl... gentle, and sweet. I stood frozen for a split second at the softness of this woman, then ran off to my running car, and back into the business of Thanksgiving week traffic. As I drove away I looked into my rear view mirror to find the woman's sweet face bowed, and her tiny hand raised up toward the heavens. She stood like this, in a posture of praise for a few moments, as I continued on again into life. I began to cry as I drove away, knowing that this woman had given me a gift far more precious than the one I had given her.
Since returning home six months ago, I have done many things... many things... very few have been quite as beautiful, or as special as this one brief moment today. No matter how many questions I ask, the answer always seems to be "Love". "Love" is difficult. It has taken me to difficult places, shown me difficult pictures, made me feel difficult feelings, and made me hear difficult things. However in the end, it is the only thing that seems to make sense. It is the only thing that makes life worth living. To love, to give, and to risk.

The world may very well be in unrest, but the Kingdom comes.

Happy Thanksgiving.