As I sat down on the seat at the service station my mind was miles away.

Thinking about all the things I needed to do

    people to see

    places to go

 The last place I wanted to be was there.

Waiting for my car to be inspected.

I reached for the newspaper nearby trying to find something uplifting

   but page after page was filled with the negative.

I turned to put it down

   and looked up as a very tall man opened the door.

His sheer height caught my attention and I watched as he strode up to the counter

   and explained what he needed.

I pulled out my book, opened it and began to read

   when suddenly I heard this loud voice calling my name.

“Miss Brani!”

He stepped closer to where I sat.

“You remember me?” Eyes twinkling. Big smile.

I looked up. And then like it was yesterday I saw the face of a six year old boy

   and I knew him.

“Bo!” (not his real name)

I jumped to my feet.

There I stood looking way up at him

   all five foot one and a half inches of me

   and he towering over me looked way down.

“You look just the same,” he grinned looking as if he’d won the jackpot.

All of a sudden my heart raced back to many years earlier when he had been in my class. Yes, I knew right where he sat in the classroom. I pictured his innocent face.

How very hard he worked as a first grader. Those giggles and grins. What a boy!

It’s amazing what the heart remembers.

There he stood before me

     all grown up.

But he was still MY boy in some strange sense.

My heart swelled in pride as I gazed at him

   the past intersecting with the present.

Yesterdays sunshine creating brilliance in the moment.

He stepped towards me

      this great big giant of a man

     and gave me an octopus hug.

“Thank you, Miss Brani.

    Thank you.”

My heart was too full to say much.

And then he was gone.

The whole experience must have taken only a few minutes

  but it left a lasting impact that warmed my heart.

Immediately my spirits lifted and an ordinary day became extraordinary.

Don’t you love to meet someone you haven’t seen for ages

   and immediately the heart is there? You sense the importance of their lives

  and your time together.

Once more you glimpse the sacred in the midst of the mundane.

The gold that is lasting. Many things don’t really matter but

Love is eternal.

Your heart tells you it is so and so does His Word.

Let’s never forget that

   and always know

   please know this…

   you are important to someone today.