In the
movie industry they have a phrase – the meet cute. It is a term used to describe a scene in
which the man and the woman meet each other for the first time, future lovers
who don’t yet know each other. When Gene Kelly jumps into Debbie Reynolds’ car
in Singing in the Rain. When Hugh Grant spills orange juice on Julia Roberts in
Notting Hill. When Claudette Colbert finds herself sharing a bus seat with
Clark Gable in It Happened One Night. In countless romantic comedies there is a
meet cute. Even in real life there is the meet cute.
I love to
ask people how they met their spouses – everyone has a story. Kim and I met in
a restaurant where I was working, the Hyde Park Bar and Grill in Austin Texas.
My boyfriend at the time, Doug, struck up a conversation with him at the bar
and introduced us. Thank you, Doug. There is always an element of chance, of
luck, in the story of “us.”
But it is
not just luck – there is also ingenuity, design. Sometimes it is there from the
get-go, like Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve, who watches Henry Fonda in her
compact mirror, waiting for him to walk her way, then slyly sticks out her foot
to trip him. Other times, the design comes later, in creating ways to meet
again, and again, and again.
In life
and in love we all need a little luck and a little design to find our way.
Abraham’s servant needed both when he went out in search of a wife for Isaac.
If there
is one thing we know for certain, it is that Isaac deserves to have something
good come his way. After what he went through on Mount Moriah, the young man
deserves to be comforted and loved. And so, in his final days, his father Abraham
seeks to ensure that his son will not be left alone, but will love and be
loved. He asks his servant to swear that he will do this thing for him.
The
servant set out with the intention of following Abraham’s instructions to the
T. The details are left for him to figure out, however, so he designs a plan. The
first part is this: he will wait at the well for a young woman to come.
It is
worth saying that, in the Old Testament, a well is often the site of a meet
cute. When a man and a woman meet at a well it means that love birds will be
singing. The servant is making a rather obvious choice when he choose the well.
Good for him, I say.
The second
part of his plan is this: he will wait for a young woman to approach the well,
and if she offers to give him water, and also water his camels, she will be the
one. It’s a clever design, isn’t it? On the one hand, it is a way of asking God
for a clear sign – to show him the woman that God has chosen for Isaac. On the
other hand, it is designed to ensure that, whether God is guiding this
encounter or not, the woman he chooses for Isaac will be hardworking, generous,
and hospitable.
And so,
finding her, he proceeds on to her home, to speak with the men of the family.
He explains his purpose and asks that Rebecca be allowed to be married to
Isaac. The men agree to his request, and when she is asked, Rebecca does not
hesitate to agree also. She has an adventurous spirit; she gamely says goodbye
to her family and follows this stranger to a new land to meet the man who will
become her husband. And, of course, they lived happily ever after. The end.
There are
so many ways this could have gone bad. If no young woman who met his
requirements had appeared at the well. If her kin had said no to the servant’s
request. If Rebecca, herself had said no.
And once
they returned home, things could have gone wrong. If Isaac had not appreciated
her. If Rebecca had not loved him. If there was no tenderness, no comfort in
their union. It takes some design and also some luck –
Or is it
just luck? If there is one thing the scriptures tell us, from beginning to end,
it is that God’s hand is in all things. And when something appears to be luck,
might it actually be the designing hand of God?
The stories
of our lives; when we look back on them, we might see that they are made up of
various elements, patches of various colors, sizes, and textures. They include
some of our own design, some of the designs of others with whom we cross paths,
who have an impact on our lives, and the designs of God, who is ever present
with us, through the ups and downs and meanderings of our days.
From the
beginning when God began creating this beautiful ordered world and made us
co-creators with God; through the desert wanderings, years of barrenness while those
who watch and wait might hear the message from God that they need to hear;
through the scheming, through the struggles and difficult relationships when
God manages to make something out of our messes in spite of us; through it all
God’s creative Spirit is with us. Through our hopes and our fears, and the
years of wondering what the heck we are doing, God’s creative Spirit is with
us. Through our worst moments and the moments of our greatest faithfulness,
God’s creative Spirit is right there with us, partnering with us, because there
is always more creative work to be done.
And there
is more creative work yet to be done.
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