Coffee Shop Life Lessons

9/15/2014

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 18:1-4

Being car-less can be quite interesting. Since my accident, I’ve been forced to get creative with rides, which has led me to do a lot of waiting around in a lot of different places. It’s Saturday afternoon, and after spending a beautiful morning with a dear sister on a blanket in the grass, talking about God and life, I came over to a near-by coffee shop to wait for another friend to pick me up. I initially opened my laptop with the notion of writing a blog about my last trip to Peru. I sat with an empty Word document, headphones in my ears, and absolutely nothing to say. Well really, I had so much to say that I didn’t know where to start. I sat for a few minutes with idle fingers on the keyboard, until I decided to just catch up on my Italian lessons instead. One lesson in, and I’m interrupted by a 2-and-half-foot-tall, blonde-hair, blue-eyed little angel in cowboy boots, leopard tights and a flower dress. She walks up to my table, pulls out the chair in front of me and plops herself down, holding a bright pink cake-pop and rocking a ginormous smile. As I look up, her mom sweetly asks “can she share a table with you?” The moment was so random, yet so incredibly sweet. “Of course,” I smile, removing the headphones from my ears.

“What’s your name?” she asks.

“I’m Kat.”

“Kat? Like a kitty-kat?”

“Just like a kitty-kat!”

“Well, I’m Sofie.”

Sofie and I began to chat about life, mermaids, water-slides, and cupcakes. It was one of the most refreshing and enlightening conversations I’ve had in a while.

As Sofie and I continued our conversation, another 3-foot-tall little angel with dark-brown pig-tales, an orange sundress, and bright blue swimming goggles approaches us. “Hola! Yo me llamo Isabella!”

“Hola, Isabella!” I said.

Isabella looks at my new friend, Sofie, and asks her (in Spanish) if she’d like to play with her. Sofie looks at her with a blank expression and asks, “What did she say?” Isabella catches on to the language barrier, looks at me in the eyes and sweetly shares (in Spanish) “We don’t understand each other because I’m from a different world.” I chuckle to myself and reassure her, “It’s okay. I understand both of you, I can help you guys be friends.”

And just like that, I was privileged to play translator for two new friends from two different worlds.

Soon after the adorable little angels used my services to exchange a few words, I watched them with a giant smile on my face, as they frolicked around the coffee shop, giggling, hiding behind chairs and tickling each other under the chin.

The exchange was so pure, so sweet, so joyful, and best of all--so simple.

God's creativity is extra-special. Through it, He reminded me of two beautiful lessons on this casual Saturday afternoon:

Childlike humility brings forth life, and laughter is a universal language.

Dear friends, I invite you to humble yourselves like these children—make new friends, experience joy without boundaries, and let love and laughter be your language.