Eileen Loveman Daily Posting

People enter our lives at different times for different reasons. I believe they are placed there by divine intervention. The man upstairs thought it was time to have a visit, whether we wanted the company or not. They are not placed for our amusement, nor to be a discipline to us. Only he knows why they are here.

 

It may also happen, from time to time, this guest in our life is not welcome or even recognizable. No where is this more evident than in the case of people who are on the fringe of society. Men and women who don't satisfy the social norms of our world. The people who we deem have a loose wire, a screw loose. One sandwich short of a picnic. Not quite certifiable to be committed, they move freely among us, part of a "club" that society has labeled different.

 

To the less tolerant they are to be shunned, for they are tagged as dangerous, weird or untrustworthy. Most of them are harmless as lambs. Some are missing teeth or may have body odor. Sometimes their clothes don't match, attire being bought at the Salvation Army or borrowed out of someone's recycle bin. The majority of them do have jobs and pay rent somewhere, not homeless as one would think.

 

But are they crazy?

 

I have contact with them because of the line of work I am in. They are accepted at the place where everyone is welcome, where it doesn't matter what they smell like or what they wear. They are welcome because it is Church. It is part of my baptismal call to welcome them to the table.

 

My interactions with them can be on a daily basis or I may not see them for months.

 

I know one gentleman who looks like he fell off an oil tanker. But he writes the most beautiful devotional poetry to the Virgin Mary that I have ever read, it can bring tears to your eyes. He is a brilliant writer, creating prose of deep spiritual truths and timeless doctrine.

 

I will find beautiful litanies slid under my door sometime during the afternoon when I am engrossed in a budget or a difficult phone call. Read me it will say on a yellow sticky tab across the top. I take the time to read it, and my soul is immediately calmed. He waves to me outside my window as I contemplate the gift he has given me. A brief interlude from the storm, I am adrift on a sea of contentment until the phone rings again.

 

Another member of the "club" is a woman who can sing arias from La Boheme at the drop of a hat. Her voice is beautiful - sweet and soft and heavenly. She also wears evening gowns with felt pants to church. A little off, but is she crazy? Listen to what I just learned, honey, she will say to me in the parking lot as I try to hurry to my car, already late for an appointment. Her soothing voice reminds me of my own when I was a young mother, how I would respond to my children begging me to give them one more cookie before bedtime. She makes me stop to listen. The Readers Digest version lasting no more than a minute, Ok, I'm done now, thanks alot she'll announce and away she will go, adjusting her off the shoulder pink taffeta evening gown as she quickly scurries away.

 

A third card carrying "club" member is a young man who has to say everything three times. How are you How are you How are you, I am fine I am fine I am fine, Beautiful day today Beautiful day today Beautiful day today, but in a moment of clarity, he will announce only once I prayed for your son in the Navy today before he continues Gotta go now Gotta go now Gotta go now.

 

So my prayers are often filled with gratitude for the job that I have, to be able to sit with the club members. To share in their joy of what they created that day, listen to what they believe and what they fear. They don't look like the rest of us, but they have a serenity about them one can only hope to emulate. Does it come from the fact they are free because they are not like everyone else? Does it perpetuate itself as the further outside the fringe they venture?

 

Have you ever thought about why a person like this may have approached you, the great, why me? question in your head before they begin to talk?

 

I wear suits with matching shoes and handbag. But I also practice dance moves with refrigerator doors, and get out of my car at traffic lights to boogie when I am feeling in a silly mood or need to blow off steam.

 

Am I crazy? A club member in the making? Or am I blessed.

 

Or did I unknowingly bless someone by making them laugh to themselves

 

and thinking Will ya look at that crazy woman

 

One can only guess. Only he knows.