A day of volunteering at a food bank

   Shoulders touching and hands reaching. Many stood in line waiting or moved along to the next choice of food. Amid the hub-bub of hungry, searching people, I saw her approach our table to make her bread choice. She was just one among the many needing help in hard times.

   Her Russian heritage was evident in the build of her body. Not overweight, she had a strong body structure, revealing that she came from a lineage of large-boned people.

   Her long hair, half swept up into a bun, swayed with her words, as if it helped her speak. Dark brown, it matched her eyes and again revealed the Russian heritage.

   Self confidence carried her to her full stature of 5 feet 10 inches. A woman that knew what she wanted and where she was going, she emitted satisfied peace.

   Neatly dressed and always clean, a pride in being in America and among freedom was revealed through her stylish American clothing.

   Her eyes and face always seem to glow with a secreted happiness deep within. She can not hide her inner beauty that is combined with her outer appearance. She’s beautiful through and through.

   She smiled as she approached me, with that “I’m so glad to see you”, smile of hers.

   I had been thinking about her on my way to the food bank and told her so before we greeted each other with Russian kisses on lips and cheeks. I knew this greeting looked odd to others, but I also knew it gave her comfort, knowing that just one American could emit love as her home town people did.

   We smiled at each other and said the usual ‘how are you, how was your week?’ She once again told me how she looks forward to seeing me.

   Always optimistic and proud of her freedom, she has told me of the oppression she suffered in Russia for being a Believer in Jesus. Shunned and ostersized by her own country, she loved the freedom that Believers have in this country. Her old country treated her with predgidism and limited her in many ways.

  Loving to hear her speak English, I ask her questions in order to hear her accent. She speaks English very well and yet broken. The English slang she has acquired sounds much more interesting when she speaks it.

  A short greeting, a ‘how are you’, a choice of bread and then our goodbyes. That is all there is to our relationship. But how she has impacted my life is so much more than the time we have spent together over the bread table. She reveals our taken-for-granted-freedom in her everyday life. She reveals the self-confidence of a woman who has been freed from oppression. She reveals the joy of a woman freed by the salvation of her Hero, Jesus. And she shows the love of the Hero who lives within her.

   I don’t know her name, but I know her love. I don’t know where she lives, but I know we are sisters. I don’t know if she is married, but I know who her Husband will be.

   The main thing I know about her is that we love each other. She gives me joy and receives mine. And we dwell in the same kingdom among the free…The Kingdom of God in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave. She experiences both these homes.

   This is my friend, the Russian Lady. I share her with you so that you will know just one of the special people I have met and loved through working at the food bank.

   You may think that we help the hungry more than they help us. Oh, but you are so wrong. The love we receive from these people help us to know that God is everywhere and in each and every person. These people are the evidence of God’s love. Their love to me gives me hope and the motivation to keep on going, keep on living, keep on loving.

   One day, I hope to somehow give back to them what they have given to me. I don’t know how or what or when, but I do know that God will reward them even if I can’t.

   So, I pray, God bless these people. Reward them for rewarding me, Your daughter. Reward them for loving through broken pride. Reward them for giving when they came to take. Reward them for thinking of others when they thought they had come for themselves. And thank You for rewarding me with them. Thank You, Lord…and Bless these wonderful people. Amen.

Nancy Bauer (10-31-2009)