March 13
Scripture: Psalm 119:76
May your unfailing love be my comfort, according to your promise to your servant.
The Comfort Café
The line was backed up to the salad bar. I should have known better than to go to the student center café at noon! Long lines filled with hurried people can frequently lead to shuffling, muttering and a general unpleasantness. However, Louise was working the cash register and a very different atmosphere prevailed. Louise would enthusiastically great everyone, perhaps by name, or simply with a warm greeting that made you feel good to be there. She would chat with you as she entered your purchases, always making you feel that she was truly talking WITH YOU, not just making polite conversation. Whether it was president, staff, student or professor she brightened each person’s day. Indeed, many people came to that café just to have this brief energizing and –yes—comforting encounter with Louise.
I often thought about what made Louise so special. Many people doing similar work will also talk to you and ask how you are doing. It finally dawned on me that it was not what Louise was saying, it was how she was saying it that made all the difference in the world. Louise was truly interested in each person who came through that line. She wasn’t just “being pleasant”; she REALLY wanted to know how you were doing; she was REALLY listening. In today’s world of automated services, artificial pleasantries and remote help desks, it is truly a comfort to find a Louise—someone who radiates a sense of “I am really interested in you and sincerely care about you”. The fascinating thing is that it can be accomplished in a thirty second encounter at a cash register—it doesn’t take a therapy session!
When Louise retired from the job several years ago, her final day at the café was a major campus event. No faculty or administrator ever had a party like this! She wasn’t behind the counter that day--No, she was out in the dining room serving cake to those who had come to know and love her over the years. There were hugs and tears from young and old to honor and thank this woman who touched so many with her genuine concern and joy-filled spirit.
Louise showed us that comfort can be found even in a cafeteria line.
Prayer: Thank you, dear Lord, for providing people that show us comfort in unexpected places. Help me to focus more on talking with others rather than at them.
By Herb Broda
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