Face to Face

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” *

 

Al and I were standing in the frozen food section of the grocery store when a man coming in the opposite direction noticed that Al was walking with a limp. Then, he pointed down to his own foot. The friendly man who was close in age to Al and me, shared that he had to walk with a cane but could lean on the cart for support when shopping.

He told us his name and said that he, Bob, had been recently in an accident and had severely sprained his ankle, resulting in a drop foot. While we stood and listened, Bob also told us about some other health issues he had.

“The seventies are the hardest years,” he said emphatically. “I can hardly wait till the eighties and nineties!” Oh? That was a new one!

Before resuming our shopping, I promised to pray for him. Bob’s willingness to talk definitely caught my attention. It certainly seemed unusual to have such a conversation in the store…at least since the outbreak of the coronavirus.

There was another nice exchange with a woman standing in front of us in line as we patiently waited to go through the self-checkout area. She commented on the beautiful display of orchids that had been strategically placed next to the aisle.

“I’d love to buy one, but I have the hardest time growing orchids,” she said.

“They don’t like to be overwatered,” Al shared. “That’s what kills them—overwatering.”

When one of the registers was empty, she pushed her cart over to it. We happened to get a place close by; so, I continued to talk a bit with her while bagging the groceries. She too seemed very friendly and willing to converse with us.

That happened to be our first shopping trip after the mask mandate had been lifted. For the two years prior Al and I wore masks whenever we went anywhere other than our daughter’s house. Personal contacts with people had sorely been missed.

 We had a regular routine for grocery shopping: putting on masks, sanitizing hands, walking up and down the aisles to find the needed items and checking them off the list, all the while trying to maintain distance from others. Using the self-checkout registers eliminated talking to the checkout clerk, unless there was a problem.

 For the most part, he and I did our shopping without interacting with anyone other than ourselves. That was almost better for me anyway because I couldn’t breathe well when wearing the mask. Carrying on a conversation wasn’t easy either.

I especially missed seeing the smiles and waves of the children who seemed to turn away from my masked face. Wanting to communicate with folks in some way, I tried smiling more, hoping that my eyes were smiling too.

 When finished, we’d wheel our carts out of the store, load the groceries into the car and head for home after sanitizing our hands again and pulling off our masks. Shopping wasn’t much fun. It seemed so impersonal as did almost every “outing.”

 There was definitely a sense of freedom on that first shopping trip without masks—the   friendliest, happiest one in a long, long time. It was wonderful to feel somewhat normal again.

Interacting with folks at church was a great relief as well. No more walking in, sitting apart, struggling to get enough air to sing along with the worship team, then walking out after the service without stopping to visit. There was great joy expressed when we were able to see each other’s faces once more. Well, hugs had been missed too!

Although we haven’t seen God, we catch glimpses of His glory as we grow in our relationship with Jesus and experience His love in our hearts and lives. Sometimes God’s countenance is reflected in glowing faces of His children, our brothers and sisters in Christ.

I can only imagine the joy that we will feel in heaven when we will stand before God and see Him face to face. Then we will know Him fully, just as He now fully knows us. In the meantime, we wait with faith and hope…and love!

*1 Corinthians 13:12-13 NIV