Day 105: Stray french fries

I bumped into a young woman working at McDonald's. She was sweeping the floor, and I was holding a cup of coffee. She was diligent about her work, sweeping under all the tables, bringing out all the dropped french fries and straw wrappers and napkins of the day. She missed nothing.

I asked if I could pray for her, and she paused. She was young -- she told me later she was in high school. I filled the silence after my question by admitting it likely seemed a weird question. She didn't disagree but said it would be OK if I prayed for her. However, she cautioned, "Only if it's a good prayer." I smiled at that. Yes, I said, it most definitely would be a good prayer. She smiled, too.

She kept sweeping during this time, but not with the same focus as before. When I told her I wanted to pray for her right then, a very short prayer, she frowned. "I don't really know how to pray," she said. I think she misunderstood me, so I clarified that I would pray for her. She didn't have to do anything. And so I prayed for her right there. She seemed to appreciate it, in a puzzled sort of way.

When I walked out of that store, I had quite a bit of regret. She didn't know how to pray. That's a sad statement. I could have done more for her, I think. I could have asked her more questions, about what her faith life is like and whether she had accepted Christ.

But at the same time, I think also that perhaps I'm just a piece of God's plan. We don't have to do it all when we reach out to others. We don't have to find them, convert them, get them baptized and help them grow their relationship with God to maturity. That's a daunting task that can scare us out of even trying to evangelize. But we can do a portion of that, and we can trust God to find others to do the rest. Personally, although I would love to witness someone's conversion, I can be satisfied with just finding people and planting seeds.

So with this McDonald's employee, maybe somebody will come along who's much more qualified than me who can lead her into that relationship. On my way home, I prayed that will be the case.