I’ve a story to share about the “Choose Faith, Hope, Love” yard signs. This particular story began about two months ago, when I was walking Kiko, my Border Collie. A woman driving by slowed down, pulled over, and rolled her window down (you have to be of a certain age to know that there was a time when windows were literally rolled down with a handle and not powered down with a button). She asked me if my dog was a Border Collie, and I said, “Yes, and his name is Kiko which is Hawaiian for Spot.” She told me that she lives around the corner and has a West Highland White Terrier named Angus. “Angus,” she told me, “barks furiously at dogs that pass by until he has gotten a chance to meet them and knows they are safe. Do you think you could stop by sometime when Angus is in the yard so that he can meet Kiko?”
I replied. “Sure. I’ll have to be careful because Kiko is pretty protective of me but that can work.”
So Tuesday morning, returning from my walk, we passed their yard, and Angus was outside. I greeted the couple and then approached so that Kiko and Angus could meet. The woman called from her porch, “I love your yard sign.” And without even thinking about what I was saying, I replied, “Would you like one? I can get one for you.” “Sure,” she said.
So I picked up a sign from church, and early the next morning, I grabbed it, and headed out the door on my usual route. I, by nature an introvert, was feeling a bit apprehensive about whether I’d overstepped a social norm by offering a sign to a person whose name I don’t even know. I got a bit more apprehensive as I realized that I wasn’t entirely sure which house was theirs. I was certain that it was the house next to the nuns’ house, but there are houses on both sides of said house. So, working up all the gumption I could muster, I picked the house on the right, and placed the sign on their front porch. It was before 7 am, so I didn’t want to knock or ring the bell.
Fast-forward 24 hours. Kiko and I departed on our morning walk, and first on my agenda was to see what had happened to the sign. It was not proudly displayed in the front yard of the house on the right, and I didn’t see it on the porch where I’d left it. I walked on, thinking I probably had overstepped. As I passed the nuns house, there on the next lawn was our St. Paul’s “Choose Faith Hope Love” sign proudly displayed in their front yard!
I can only imagine the conversations between the neighbors before the sign got to the right place! I laughed for most of the walk, at myself, at my fallibility, and about the community engagement that occurred.
Faith, hope, and love, when put into action, create ripples that spread in unexpected ways, like the wind from God sweeping over the face of the waters.
Rejoicing in Spirit’s ripples ~ Anne
Wayfinding 