Charity

It wasn't anything huge, but it keeps coming back to my mind and I smile every time I think about it.

Today I was sitting in my wee little cubicle (typing that out it looks like it reminds me of icicles... like ice cubes and icicles combined! Those would hurt... And I digress...) doing a project that my supervisor had assigned me. I was pretty content with my life because special projects make me feel special! And I didn't have to be on the phones while I was doing it so it was great. I had my headset on, listening to some awesome possum music while I mundanely typed a bunch of numbers into  Excel.

Whilst I was doing so, some of the new trainees walked past me on their way out the door. They had finished for the day and were heading back home to enjoy their afternoons, or whatever was left of them. Let me describe for you the average person that works here: young adult, usually students. Most of us are young and single, engaged or newly married. If you are older than 30, it is just barely and you have a young family, but that is pretty rare. Most of us pretty much fit into the same category, which makes for a lively office. I find it so interesting to watch all the training groups coming in and seeing the new personalities that are being brought to the company. It surprises me every time who gets hired, and yet everyone somehow seems to belong once they get on the phones.

This time I was doubly surprised however. In this current training group, there is a very.. I don't want to say old, but he is quite aged, man. He has tiny hearing aids in his ears, only visible if you look closely. His hair is all white, but neatly combed despite the fact that he is thinning out. He stoops over a little bit, but not much. He walks slowly, and carries a briefcase with him to work. At first I was very skeptical, wondering if he could even hear the people on the phones. He sat in the cubicle next to mine one day while he was shadowing my co-worker. He sat hunched in his chair with his hands pressing his headset closer to his ears so he could hear. My skepticism continued until he spun around in his chair to face me in order to make a joke about the last call he had listened to.

He has the sweetest face, his wrinkles marking every smile, laugh and good time he ever had in his life. His eyes sparkled as he joked around and his mouth broke into a little grin. There was no trace of being old, except for the slight crack in his voice. He wasn't slow of speech, he could remember things very well and could hear us perfectly fine. I didn't worry about him after that. I didn't even really give him a second thought, until he walked past my desk today.

Briefcase in hand, he slowly walked past on his way out. Before we left however, he stopped at my coworker's desk, the one he had shadowed, to ask her how she was doing. I don't know what it was, but a sudden wave of love for this man came over me. He wasn't even doing anything but being himself, but I just wanted to hug him and tell him he was great and that I admired the kind of person he was. I started tearing up people, that's how strong this was! I got a little taste of how Heavenly Father feels for each of us. Unconditional love. No reason, no earning it, just there. And I am so grateful that I could feel that for just a moment for one of my brothers.