I shall come back to you...

 "Yahweh appeared to him at the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting by the entrance of the tent during the hottest part of the day. He looked up and there he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them, and bowed to the ground. 'My lord,' he said 'if I find favour with you please do not pass your servant by. Let me have a little water brought, and you can wash your feet and have a rest under the tree. Let me fetch a little bread and you can refresh yourselves before going further, now that you have come in your servant's direction'...Then his guest said, 'I shall come back to you next year...'" Gen 18:1-10.

Mehrin's perspective:

I saw an old friend today. Someone I haven't seen in close to a year. She was on the bus that I took to work. She recognised me first, as I stepped onto the bus and validated my ticket. "Hello," she said, "hello, hello" I was off in a day-dream and didn't notice to begin with. Then I twigged, "Oh, Hi, Hi, how are you?" "Pretty good" she responded, as she tried to make room for me, on the slightly-too-small bus seat. As we travelled together, we caught up, "What have you been up to? Are you still staying in the same place?" All the common questions that come up for friends who haven't seen each other in a while. She spoke about work, and the enjoyment she gets from it. The sense of accomplishement she feels when she takes home her pay-packet. We laughed about the fact that she's looking forward to paying taxes, because then, she reasoned, no one could say she's not doing her bit.

When we reached my friend's stop, we said our goodbyes. As she stepped off the bus and into her day, I thought about the first time we had met, in Credo. About how far she'd come since then. I found myself really grateful for the place that Credo is, and it's ability to hold people through hard times.

Oftentimes we get to know people best when they are at their lowest point, and once they're doing well, they don't come in anymore. It's hard not to wonder about them, where they are, what they're doing. So, it's all the more encouraging when, on days like today, I see an old friend, and she's in a good place.