This past
weekend, a household sister and I went downtown to the perpetual adoration
chapel in one of the local parishes. It was about 9pm, give or take a few
minutes, and we needed to ring the doorbell in order to get into the church.
Just as I was about to push the doorbell, a short woman wearing a blue flowered
shirt and a brown quilted coat opened the door from the inside. She jumped a
little bit and we jumped too, startled to see somebody standing there. My
household sister, B, said, “Well, that was good timing,” and made the nervous
laughing noise that is her usual response to slightly awkward situations that
she doesn’t automatically know how to react to.
“You startled
me,” said the woman.
“Sorry about
that,” I told her. She held the door open to let us into the church. I touched
her gently on the arm as I passed by her and said that I hoped we had not startled
her too much and to have a good night.
She reached for
my hand and squeezed it. “Thanks,” she said, and then “Oh! Your hands are so
cold!”
“I know. They
are always like that.” I moved to go down the stairs towards the chapel.
From the doorway
she commented, “But you have a warm heart, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I said.
She left and I turned to my household sister, who was already at the bottom of
the stairs, examining the few posters on the wall asking for donations to the
urban mission and advertising a consecration to Mary group. “Did you hear
that?” I asked B.
“No, what?”
“She just told
me my hands were cold. And then asked me if I have a warm heart. That’s the title of my blog.” We both
had a minor freak out moment. It seemed like too much of a coincidence to be
coincidence. I certainly saw it as Providence, but what convinced me of the
fact was a nearly identical conversation with a different person not even
twenty-four hours later.
I was again with
household, but we were at a local nursing home for our bi-annual service
project. We were there simply to have a little cake and coffee social with the
residents. Upon arriving, I made eye contact with a little woman wearing a pink
and white checked shirt and green pants, so I went over to say hello and talk
with her. I gave her my hand and, of course, since I didn’t put my mittens on
for the short journey across the parking lot and into the building, my hands
were cold. Very cold. The first thing the woman did was comment on this fact
and begin to rub my hands.
“Oh my. Your
hands are cold.”
“I know. I
should have worn my mittens.”
“But you have a
warm heart, don’t you? I can see you do,” she said to me.
“Yes.”
What does it
mean that two people, entirely unrelated to each other, neither of whom I had
met before, should both have a conversation with me and tell me the title of my
blog? I have no idea. All I know is that there are some things in life that can’t
be explained simply by coincidence and seem to show us that there is Someone
watching over us and calling out to us. These conversations reminded me of
exactly that: God is there and He is calling to me at every moment.
Have you had any
“coincidences” like this in your own life? How is God calling out to you
through them?
