Stories from the Road, vol. i

Last month when we spent at afternoon in Robin Hood's Bay we stopped in for a late lunch of fish and chips at the Fish Box.

As we were sitting at a table waiting for our order to be ready, a lady came rushing in with stress and anxiety oozing off her.  She sat her elderly mother down at a table across from ours, and I couldn't help but overhear her frantic voice on the phone explaining her situation to a car recovery company.  Her car had broken down and she was now stranded here with her 90-year-old mother who had dementia.  It was definitely a stressful situation for her as she made phone calls and then did what every good British person does in a stressful situation:  procured a cup of tea.  

When her order was called and she left her table to pick it up, K.J. and I glanced over at her mother, who looked back at her daughter and then over at us and said cheerfully, "I don't know where she's going, or why I'm here!  I tell you, the older you get, the more worries you have."  We laughed and smiled at her reassuringly.  K.J. told her to just sit tight.  In the midst of the chaos and with a mind that no longer comprehended it all, there was nothing for this lady to do but sit tight and smile.  

I loved that moment.  I thought of that sweet lady again today when I was reading those familiar verses from Matthew 6 where Jesus tells us not to worry about what we'll eat or what we'll wear or money or anything that's going to happen in the future at all because we have no control over any of it!  And in life's chaotic moments we don't have a stressed-out Father in heaven making frantic phone calls to try and sort it all out.  We can sit tight because He "knows what you need before you ask him."  And if you're British, you might as well enjoy that cup of tea.