You never really know

Yesterday I was remembering a fall soccer team my daughter played on two years ago. There was a Mommy there who could make your skin crawl with negative vibes. She was just plain mean and made you want to move away when you were by her. She never had anything good to say about anybody or anything. She had a look on her face that just made you know she was really unhappy inside and was taking it out on the world. One day I had my Bible study materials with me and was hit over the head that God loves her too and I needed to step up and just get human and love on her. Well, she just couldn't stand me at all. I kept asking questions, trying to be cheerful, sitting by her, and she just rebuffed all my attempts at friendship, camaraderie, or living on the same planet. This went on for a couple of months, but damn it, I was not going to let her push me away. She needed something. This woman was probably about 300lbs and could barely walk over to the benches. I really thought she was miserable because of her weight and never talked about running (which I think always comes up in all my other conversations). One day- somehow she let her guard down and it turns out she had walked two marathons in Hawaii. I was floored. Marathon-- our common ground? Who would have ever thought? From then on she was a little less hostile-never really a friend, but there was a calmness and ease that came between us. I loved to bring up her accomplishment so the other Mommies could hear it. At the end of the season her husband divorced her after many years of marriage and she was left out in the cold. She was suffering big time inside that whole time. She's gone now. The husband lives here alone now. I'm not sure why I felt compelled to share this today, but I did. Wonder of wonders