Last month I went out on a lunch date with my mom. I thank God I can still see her whenever I want to and that we have a beautiful relationship that just gets better with time. How good the food was or where we went to eat is neither here nor there. What blessed me the most was the way she interacted with people, well one person specifically. 

How often do we engage in mindless conversation with someone as a formality? Typically the conversation goes likes this:

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“Hi, how are you?”

“Good, thanks. I’ll have… or I would like to … or Can you tell me…”

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It’s a short exchange to soften the atmosphere before we proceed to gain what we want. However, on this particular day, my mom showed genuine interest for the woman serving us by simply adding another sentence to the conversation. That sentence was “Did you enjoy your Christmas?”

This single sentence released the valve to her joy that she had stored up, ready to spill out for whoever cared enough to listen. In short, her Christmas was wonderful! Her exact words were “How can Christmas not be exciting when I get to celebrate the birth of my Savior. I don’t relish in material things, just Jesus.” Similar to Luke 1:47. The conversation went on for several more minutes and our excitement gained the attention of others. 

The Bible talks about the importance of community, relationship building and loving others. The benefits of living these out is it not only pleases God, but it’s encouraging, fosters love and attracts the Holy Spirit. Had my mom chose not to take an extra moment to show interest and love for our server, we would have missed the opportunity to publicly express our adoration about our Savior.

How many opportunities like this do we miss because all we can think about is getting and going about our business? When you put the Father’s business first, He’ll allow time for your personal wants too.

It’s way after Christmas, but her excitement about Jesus still lingers with me. Her sweet laugh, her cheerful smile and her love of Christ. 

The sweetest piece of the encounter is that her name was Mary. 

See you next week!