The main reason I love my job so much is because of the relationships I get to develop with students. Feel free to read Time and My Relational Landscape for a fleshing out of this sentiment. Another thing I love is food. For most of my life, lunch has been a highlight of any day. This stage in my life is no different but possibly for different reasons. Four out of five work days I stand at my desk, shuffle papers and run the chapel office with great anticipation for time with my Lunch Ladies.There are many students at Covenant I'm continuing to learn, love and hound with countless questions. These four girls subject themselves to a weekly conversation that oscillates between interrogation and venting depending on life and possibly my current attitude. Actually, I believe they would tell you these moments of breaking bread (or turkey wrap) are both encouraging and edifying. I've lived years they have not and therefore have a perspective on this life they can't yet visualize. They allow me the great privilege of sharing their joys and carrying their sorrows. I try to be a sounding board as they voice their fears. I watch them layout a runway for their future as we talk through relationships and dreams. I know them and they know me which is both beautiful and heartbreaking.These ladies know that I pray for them and that I enjoy their company. However, there is no way they can comprehend the spiritual benefit I receive from each of these relationships. God pours out his goodness to me through our conversation. Their desire to follow the path God has perfectly orchestrated and their commitment to His word as they navigate this broken world renews my faith. I would be proud to call any of them my own. There in lies the beauty. At times the level of devotion I feel for these ladies makes me wonder if something is wrong with me. I was recently blessed to hear Dr. Steve Garber refer to this desire to know students as a gift. Like most gifts it has a price tag. Next year, even next semester, my weekly calendar will look different. Que the heartbreak. Dr. Garber told me tears are totally acceptable as these changes in schedule occur.I often find myself thinking about my daughter during these lunches. I'm already very proud of the young lady she is and I look with great anticipation to see the woman she's becoming. One prayer I'm often voicing is for God to provide for her some one who will value the same sort of opportunity with her that I have with these four Lunch Ladies. I hope for someone in her college years to see her gifts with new eyes...someone to appreciate the things I've grown accustom to and therefore unintentionally overlook. Mostly, I hope for her to have someone who can invest in her without the personal pride and the selfish agenda I have to continuously resist.
