First Impressions

First Impressions
By Kathleen Kjolhaug
Theology in the Trenches

 

While passing through small town U.S.A. with a pile of mail to mail on behalf of our youngest, I decided to stop. The quietude along main looked inviting as I eyed the post office to my left. Getting in and out would be easy because there would be no other customers to contend with…at least not today. Scrambling from my car with the sack of goods, I entered the building and approached the man behind the counter.

 

Pulling out the letters, I requested stamps. No surprise there…but as he eyed my stack, he spoke. “How many do you need…80…100?” It was a bright sunny day, and the warmth had put a bounce in my step, so when I responded, I wasn’t quite ready for his.

 

“Hmmm…I’m not sure,” I said with overly animated voice intonations. “Let me count.”

 

He sighed. Audibly, he sighed. Trying to overlook the obvious, I cheerfully began to count.
He walked away. “One…two…” The number rose quickly and soon I was able to holler out my response. “One hundred it is!”

 

He moved back in my direction. “You sure have a nice little town here.” I offered.

 

He passed me the stamps with little to no expression. I paid, turned to the table behind me, and began stamping. It wasn’t long before I could hear his low tones speaking to someone on the phone. You see, although there was a counter between us, there were no walls separating this particular post office from the work room. In other words, it was a clear shot between me, the desk at which he sat, and the bundles of mail carrying totes in the back of the room. Although my head was down and I appeared focused, I could easily make out each word spoken.

 

Suffice it to say, his choice of words said it all: “doctor, appointment, soon, worse, melanoma…” This phone call must have been the first thing on his list of to do’s this particular morning before I interrupted that which was weighing on his mind.

 

How often, I wonder, do I take personally that which is spoken by word or deed only to find out later that there were other things pressing in on lives and reactions had nothing to do with me at all? Today I was gifted a bit of insight into the heart of a brother. Perhaps by simply asking our Lord for wisdom and discernment in circumstances we do not understand would be a good start. Prayers offered could literally clarify misunderstandings between families, friends, and co-workers. Perhaps those prayers could help grow roots of peace rather than help plant mine fields for others to trample upon.

 

2 Peter 1:19-20 utters strength. “We have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things.” Thy word is what’s needed…not my interpretation of it.  Amen.