On Interrupting Someone’s Meal

Panda Express Logo“Excuse me, can I just say something?”

I turned from the vulnerable conversation I was having with a new friend and looked up at a middle-aged woman’s face. She’d been sitting two tables beside us, eating dinner with her teenage son. Upon rising from her completed meal of Panda Express goodness, she stepped over and interrupted my entire conversation.

“I just want to encourage y’all to keep going,” she said. “As a mom, it’s so encouraging to see two young men pursuing God like you two are. Keep going. He’s worth it.” Then turning to me explicitly, she said, “You are loved, you are worthy, you are valuable and precious.”

I turned red at the woman’s words — not for embarrassment, but for sheer unspeakable joy. I was touched beyond measure. Moved that some random mom in a delicious fast food restaurant would take such initiative to approach me and tell me I am loved when my own mother is over two thousand miles away and unable to do so face-to-face.

Sophia, her name was.

Her interrupting my meal was just another confirmation that this journey called life, difficult and prone to struggle though it certainly is, has an altogether redeeming end. Of all the people in all the places, Sophia reminded me at Panda Express what’s so easy to forget even at church:

That even when I feel worthless, I am worthy. Not because I deserve such standing or could have possibly earned it, but simply because that’s who God is. A God of grace unending and second chances unlimited. A God who restores worth to the worthless and love to the loveless.

After Sophia and her son left, my friend and I continued our vulnerable conversation in a fast food restaurant full of people undoubtedly catching words here and there.

I only hope our conversation was as uplifting for them as it was for us. And apparently for Sophia.

Has someone ever rudely interrupted your meal to tell you that you’re loved?

10 Comments
World's Moistest Jheri Curl 25 February 2017
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“You are loved, you are worthy, you are valuable and precious.”

what a kind beautiful soul

MLYaksh 11 April 2013
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This is why I am ok with having deep conversations in public- you don’t know who’s listening. Sophia was, most likely, also blessed in an incredible way that she needed at that moment. You and your friend gave her a gift that day by your conversation. You never know who needs to hear what you’re going through so that they too can be blessed. I’d encourage you to continue having vulnerable talks in public places- you’ll be amazed at what God will do.

Rebecka 11 April 2013
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What a lovely story. If we listen to God’s voice, He can use us to encourage people, even at Panda Express! 😉

Laura Coulter 11 April 2013
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I’d like to one day be a person who is comfortable enough to interrupt someone’s meal to say something like that. God bless those who are. Unexpected moments of encouragement are the best.

David Martin 11 April 2013
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Wow.. affirmations like this are so encouraging. God uses ordinary people to bless others. It’s scary as heck sometimes.. it took boldness on her part to say all that too. Thanks for sharing. Continuing to keep you in prayers for the book.

Adam Stück 10 April 2013
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That’s a remarkable story! God bless loving folks like Sophia. A kind word can make such a difference, especially when it’s completely unsought and unexpected.

I’ve never been interrupted during a meal by a person telling me I’m loved, but I have been interrupted during a meal by people bombarding me with crumpled-up papers. I guess it’s the thought that counts.