Recently Overheard

Okay, who are we kidding? I was totally eavesdropping. It isn't my fault though. She came and sat right next to me. And then answered her cell phone.

She was tall for a woman, about forty-five. She had tightly curled hair, permed, brown all over, from a box. She wore glasses and lipstick that was too dark and perfectly lined. Harshly lined. She wore a button down shirt with a ridiculous pattern, tucked into her jeans and she sat down to drink coffee. Facing me, she had begun to flip through a magazine when her phone buzzed.

Her friend was on a road trip with husband and kids in tow and they were making quick progress. And our curly-headed woman had been on a blind date two nights before and he had been a perfect gentleman. He was thoughtful and he opened doors, helped her with her jacket, pulled out her chair at dinner.

I began to reach for my notepad. It was getting interesting. I flipped to an open page and kept my head down, lest she think I was taking notes on her conversation. Whoops.

"He's no one I would marry," she explained, "but I'll see him again because I have nothing else to do."

I sighed. I hate that perspective. She nodded, listening to her friend.

"Well, at least the distance will keep him from being awkward or too frequent, you know?..." She trailed off because her friend, Lord bless her, was arguing that point; it was totally illogical.

"It's just where I am." And her voice broke. In my periphery I noticed her looking up, making sure no one had seen her ashamed tears. But she continued, "I've got to quit looking back... Harry... I just keep looking back..."

I stopped taking notes there and went into my own mind, a whirlwind. She was lonely, and I can relate to that. I say that I hate the perspective of dating someone because you have nothing else to do, but I think if I was forty-five and single, I'd do the same damn thing.

I know one woman who waited it out. And she is incredible. When she got married last April, I cried so many tears of joy, along with everyone else in that church. And it was because Kathy trusted God when he said he knows his plans for her life, when he said he loves her. Never have I seen a woman in white so beautiful or a groom so fully delighting in his bride.

While Kathy might have felt lonely, or at times wondered why she did not know the one her heart longed for, she was fruitful.

You see all these young women? We are her daughters. She mothered us, helped us grow. Each woman in this photograph has been deeply affected by her, and countless women beyond the moment this camera lens snapped.

Trusting God, she lives by grace, and she is fruitful and life-giving.

I pray my days may be the same.