A few Sunday evenings ago, I came across my key. Small, smooth, and ordinary, this amazing gift was given to me from the MOPS group (Mothers of Preschoolers) that I've been a party of for a few months. This group has brought me so many blessings, a big source of which is the advice, support, and love of other moms, that this key, with the word "Courage" stamped on it, had served its purpose. It was time for it to move on to another deserving individual.
"But who could this be?," I thought to myself. "My sister? She's been through a divorce and a job change in the past year..." But I didn't feel it in my gut. "My best friend? Maybe she needs a push towards her goal of going to seminary?" I asked myself. But I didn't feel it in my heart. Just as I was going to toss the key back into the envelope, it hit me. It hit me in the gut and in the heart and in the soul. This woman at church: Jan. I had seen her earlier that day, leaving church with a friend of hers, and the look in her eyes stuck with me. I saw that look again, sitting at my desk, and just knew that she was the right person for the key and for its message of courage.
I couldn't logically explain why she needed it, but I followed what every fiber of my being was telling me to do and gave it to her after church the following Sunday. I explained to her where I got it from, how much it had meant to me as a new mom struggling with postpartum depression, and told her how despite the fact that I could not logically tell her why she was the right person for the key, she was. And to my delight, she smiled and said, "I know. I know why." Those were the only words that she could manage as tears began to fill her eyes as she hugged me.
I've seen Jan several times since then in the last few months, and she has never told me her "why." I have never asked. Thankful to be a part of such a beautiful exchange of courage and love between the two of us, I am also thankful that she too will pass this key on to someone who needs it and the blessing of courage it brings.
