My great aunt, Vina Fish, once owned and operated a Tea House on main street in a small farming town in upstate New York. At one time or another, virtually all of the women of the family, cousins of mine, as well as my grandmother and my mother, all worked at the Tea House. People would drive all the way from New York City for Sunday dinner there. Auntie’s two specialties were chocolate cake with four inch meringue icing, and Parker-house style homemade rolls. Her pies also attracted customers.

Once when Auntie was visiting us for one of our birthdays, my mother served rolls, and everyone exclaimed that they were so very delicious. I hadn’t tasted one; but, thinking that they were rolls my mother had bought at the grocery, I said loudly, “These may be good, but they are not as good as Aunties’ rolls!” Dead silence settled on the table and my mother tried every way to apologize to Auntie, as the rolls really were ones she had brought for the occasion. I looked around the table and saw embarrassment on everyone’s face except Auntie’s. She looked at me and smiled. I told her that I hadn’t eaten one yet, and so I didn’t really know how good they were. I knew that she understood, and I didn’t think I had hurt her feelings, but my mother was mortified, and I was relieved when dinner was finished. Later my mother asked me how I could have made such a mistake. My only consolation was Auntie’s smile, and I wondered how everyone else could have missed it. Auntie’s smile conveyed to me the peace that I needed.

St. Paul wrote, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. . . For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:20-21) Paul writes of the Spirit of God as the solution to all the suffering in the world. Throughout history the saints have lived and died in the knowledge of the truth of Paul’s words. Paul lifts us out of frustration by telling the works of God’s Holy Spirit: The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people. . .” (Romans 8:26-27) I felt sure that Auntie Fish understood that I was trying to complement her rolls. I was also sure that she still loved me, and that we weren’t going to be strangers. God knows how to use one warm smile for His Kingdom.

Love in Him,

Prue