While nothing on earth equals God’s power, many people live for power. Powerful governments affect our lives for good or bad, and we notice that, but what about power in our daily lives?
Long ago before the pandemic my husband and I ate at one of our favorite restaurants fairly often, and a cute, young lady with a friendly smile waited on us. I’ll call her Mandy. One day a couple came in and sat in the booth behind us. Mandy walked up to the table with her big grin. “Hi, how are you today?” she asked.
The man, who had salt and pepper colored hair and a pudgy face, spoke in a harsh tone, “I want the steak.”
“Sure, which one would you like?” Mandy asked.
“I don’t want you to put it in the microwave. That will make it tough. Do you understand?”
Mandy’s lips turned down. “Yes sir.”
“I want it medium rare. I don’t want blood oozing out of it. I want it cooked right.”
“Yes sir, which steak did you prefer?”
“Oh, I think I’ll take the rib eye. And, I want a glass of water with five lemons in it.”
I assumed he meant lemon slices, and knowing Mandy, I’m sure she interpreted his demand that way also.
“Yes sir.” Wrinkles creased Mandy’s brow.
“Oh, and I want the glass filled to about one inch of the top. Don’t put too much water in it.”
“Yes sir,” Mandy said.
Later Mandy served the order, her facial muscles taut. “Does everything look all right?” Her voice cracked.
In my head I heard the foreboding music played in a movie at a suspenseful moment while the audience waits to see if something awful is going to happen. But, the man said, “Yes.”
Thank goodness. I watched Mandy go back and forth to that table with her shoulders slumped, and it dawned on me. Even though we may only enter someone’s life for a moment, we have the power to brighten that person’s day, or put him or her under a strain and create unhappiness.
There could be hundreds of reasons why the man sounded so unpleasant, ranging from an illness to nothing going his way, but I felt so bad for Mandy. Then I heard her laughing and talking to another customer. The rude customer had only put Mandy under stress for a short time. She possessed the kind of happiness that comes from God—with enough power to overcome the strain and let it go. But sadly, the customer probably lived day in and day out with his own misery. Thinking of the power of God, so mighty He conquered death, it consoled me to know not only in our daily lives, but in all power struggles, no matter how big or how evil, in the end God always wins.
“Great is our Lord and mighty in power...” Psalm 147: 5
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