I come to work each day and settle in at “Cube 55.” There’s about 79 cubes in all and from where I sit I can see all but two rows of them in one glance over my cloth-covered fiberboard “wall.”
It’s fair and generous of the employer to have spotted the need to put Transitional folks back to work right away and develop a new service that meets the need of a new market.
Talked with Nathan this morning. The last few days he’s been making a point to say “hi” to me when I walked by his cube. I wondered why. Then I remembered that maybe it’s because when he just joined a couple of weeks ago I noticed the “new kid” in our row of cubes and wanted him to feel welcomed. He seemed like a good guy… but isolated, sitting between two young women who were always talking incessantly with each other (instead of making phone calls). So I started just saying “hi” when I walked past his cube. Then I stopped one day and asked him his name. That was two weeks ago.
This morning he came over to ole “Cube 55” and told me about how he had been so sick a few months ago that he had almost died. He hadn’t known what was wrong. He hadn’t gone to a doctor or hospital, even though he was doubling up in pain on some days. I raised my eyebrows. He had finally gone to the doc because his ma insisted. They figured out what was wrong eventually, and he was healed. Mostly. He was so happy. I guess he just needed to tell someone.
Hmmph. And all I did was just said “hi” one day. When he was still new. No big deal—for me. But obviously it was for him. He tells me things that I only tell my best friends. I never told him I had been a minister. (Just to confirm—I went into the Men’s Room to check my reflection. Nope, no “clergy” title written on my forehead.) So why does he stop by “Cube 55” a couple of times a week with more “news?”
The only thing I can come up with is… maybe he senses that I’m safe. Which is okay with me. I’m happy to give God permission to work in and through my life however He wants. If I can get out of the way fast enough. Maybe Nathan can sense the presence of God in our conservations? Who knows. All I know for sure is that he seeks me out at work to share parts of his life. So do several others. And I’m okay with that.