Have you ever missed your family? Or if you have mostly friends that are girls or couples, missed talking to a guy? Well, I work at a place that is primarily all women and children which makes both of those things even worse.
Today, I was feeling overwhelmed by a mix of those things and was praying about it as I walked into the Lowe's store. Walking in, smelling the sawdust, and seeing all of the tools was almost reassuring enough just by being in a "man's" place.
I walked back to the wood section to get what I came for, but found 5 million different types of plywood in different sizes. Rather than kill my brain in trying to make my way around what all of it meant, I went to ask one of the guys that worked there.
Michael was the perfect man for the job. I asked my questions and immediately, he knew what to do. He took me over to the right one and with animation began to tell me why it was better than what I had looked at. He turned over the board to show me the "c" side where it was a lesser
grade and had rugged knots as compared to the "b" side which was smooth
and whole. With every word you could just see that wood was something that he knew and loved. It was a kind of love I haven't known except for words and nature. After a few moments of talking over and deciding he then carted me over to Carmine. On the way over I asked a few questions about his life but then he left to do more work.
Now, Carmine is the guy in charge of cutting all of the wood. Carmine had those strong arms that were tanned with age and sun. He reminded me so much of the men that I had loved and looked up to growing up in my church. The ones that would sit to the side of the fellowship hall talking nonsense or not talking at all but they always looked cool because they had their trucker hats tipped to barely sit on their balding heads.
Well, Carmine was just as sweet. A guy was having wood cut for a box he was building his daughter. Not something you would expect from his epicenter shirt and stylish hat and jeans, but that made his project even better. His cuts took a while and Michael came back to check on me.
He asked how I was doing and I replied nicely. He apologized for the wait but I told him it was no big deal and made a joke. He walked away.
A few of the cuts were altered and changed so it took longer than both Carmine and the man expected. You could see it in their faces. When they finished, we said our goodbyes and Carmine smiled for the first time of the whole time I had been standing there.
He smiled as he thanked me for waiting, thought, and then gave me that same smile as he told me that they didn't normally do so many cuts but the store was slow and it was for the man's daughter. His kindness shone through.
He cut my wood small enough so it would fit in my car. I asked if he liked to work with wood and there was that smile again! He pulled out his flip phone with his beautiful granddaughters as the background on his screen. Carmine scrolled through his pictures to show me a beautiful kitchen island he had made and then an extensive entertainment center that encompassed the wall but was ridden with little touches, angles, and proofs of his handiwork. I genuinely complimented him on his projects.
As we walked away from the cutting station, we met up with Michael. Both out of the blue start talking about me. About how I had been the most patient and kind person they had ever met. But I hadn't done anything. If anything, they had greatly added to my day without knowing it.
How great is our God to show us how even in a small moment of waiting, beauty can be born for all parties involved.
"What no eye has seen,
what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived-
the things God has prepared for those who love him."
1 Corinthians 2:9
(something that I am continually grappling with to know- his love is too big for our tiny minds!)
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