A Chance Encounter

Yesterday I went caroling with some friends from church. We ran into another group of carolers and joined up with them. Among them was a woman named Karen.

Karen was full of joyous vigor and excitement. She rolled up to me in her wheelchair and we joined our voices in song on Silent Night and O Come Ye Faithful. I leaned down so we could better blend our voices. Later she gave me a hug and told me something about herself.

She was raised by the Sisters of Charity, she said. "Every one of those nuns was like a mother to me." She said it was a home for orphans and for children whose parents couldn't or wouldn't take care of them. "See this?" she said, tugging down the heavy woolen collar around her neck.

It was a scar she showed me. "Oh it used to be much worse," Karen told me. "It used to go right across, ear to ear," she said. "That was done to me when I was 3 years old."

"Oh, but it don't matter," she said. "How I loved the nuns," she said. "And I love to sing and to shout and I love your positive energy. You made my day!"

Well, I have seldom been commended for my "positive energy." Actually, Karen was the one with all the positive energy, the sheer joy in living. You don't meet that type every day. She was like one who'd come through war, and was just glad to be alive. I told her she was a blessing to me, and she said, "Well, you're a blessing too, dear. You blessed my socks off!"

God's love, poured into one woman's heart, overflowing to others. Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Sisters of Charity. Thank you, Lord God, for showing me your image, your icon, in a chance encounter.