My blog has been neglected for quite a while. Almost 6 months to be exact. I’ve been toying with whether to give it up
completely as I have not been very faithful to it. Today, however, an old friend changed my mind
and also gave me inspiration for a new topic, so today’s blog is a shout out to
her.
My friend is Kelsey Luvender. She is going into her junior year at Wake Forest
University, and she writes a blog called Strawberry Mint. You can find it here: www.strawberrymint.org. The goal of her blog is to share her God-given
passion for cooking and using healthy, natural ingredients with as many people
as possible. She develops and shares her
own recipes, posts pictures of finished products (and products in progress),
and writes in such an easy, engaging style that her blog is as fun to read as
the recipes are to cook.
I met Kelsey when I
was in college, and she was a middle school student who was just beginning to
grow in her faith and make it her own. I
was her small group leader, but I remember her teaching me as much as I
(hopefully!) taught her. I remember being
so impressed with how honest she was and how critically she thought about the
Lord and matters of faith. Now, we have
some mutual friends and contacts, and though Kelsey and I don’t talk often, I
hear such wonderful things about her – about how solidly she stands in her
faith, about how well she does academically, and about how wisely she does
friendships and dating.
This weekend, I decided to make one of the recipes on Kelsey’s
blog – a peach/raspberry cake. It was
WONDERFUL! It is EXACTLY as she describes
– spongy, light, moist and a perfect summer treat. Last night, I sent Kelsey a message on
Facebook to tell her that I enjoyed the recipe.
Her response was so enthusiastic and sweet, and I could tell that it
meant a lot to her that her blog had some followers. She also praised my previous blog post and
told me that the Lord had used it to speak to her. I was floored. Other than my brother JT, who signed up for
email notifications, I didn’t think anyone read my blog! Much less felt like God had used it to speak
to them.
Her comment made me think about how we positively influence
people every day and have no idea. The importance
of small actions has become more clear to me since I’ve moved to
Charlotte. I’ve been in Charlotte for a
month now, and I am still trying to figure out my way around the city and make
friends. I’m shy and uncertain in new
situations and places, so this move has called me to go out of my comfort zone
often. Last week, I went to a yoga class
at the Y. I have never taken yoga, and I
didn’t know where to find the meeting room, but an older gentleman behind me
overheard me ask directions to the class and volunteered to take me because he
was also going. He introduced himself to
me – his name was Phil – and he showed me how to get to the room, where to put
my mat, and what materials to get in preparation for the class. He probably left the class and didn’t think
about me again, but his hospitality gave me the courage I needed to try
something new. And for someone who on many
days only gets face-to-face conversation with her husband, the conversation
alone was meaningful to me!
I guess the point is that you never know how you are
impacting other people. Phil probably
thought that helping me was “no big deal,” but meeting him and going to the
class were the highlights of my day and the first things I told Andy about that
night. Kelsey may think that what she
does in the kitchen doesn’t help anyone, but I got to bake her cake with my
mom, and the laughter and fun we had while baking were just as sweet as the
dessert. I might think no one is
interested in reading this blog – and maybe they aren’t – but maybe one person
will read this and think about the ways they can impact other people for
Jesus. It doesn’t take much to share the
Lord with others. You don’t have to be a
preacher or lead a Bible Study or go on a mission trip. Being his hands and feet can be as simple as opening
a store door for a busy mom or including a wallflower in conversation or giving
a smile to someone in an elevator. Or
posting a recipe on a food blog and showing a stranger to an exercise class.
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