Two people can come together in many different ways. Sometimes they collide with sudden passion, as with Freya and Henry, who parted amiably this morning after spending a whirlwind thirty-six hours together. Sometimes they can be close to one another for long years, and then something changes to draw them still deeper into one another. I saw this in Isabella and Harrington, and was proud to have a part of it. And sometimes the union of two souls happens step by step, a deliberate drawing together that happens with eyes open on both sides.
This is what I am seeing with Kyle and Anna. They are approaching two months since their own collision, but their relationship has not followed the sudden force of their meeting. Both can see a great deal of possibility for happiness with the other, but there has been enough standing in the way to make them cautious, and that is for the best. I have been pleased to see them carefully reconciling their differences and making room in their hearts for one another. This is how love should be.
The largest obstacle that stands between them—the issue of faith—became just a bit smaller today. Kyle attended church with Anna for the first time this morning.
Anna’s church is traditional, but the congregation prides itself on being welcoming. As Anna walked in, hand-in-hand with Kyle, no fewer than six people greeted them both before they found their seats. Naturally there was some curiosity in the glances that swept over them both, but everyone was polite, and I did what I could to show Kyle their honest happiness for Anna and the sincerity of their welcome for him.
“They’re all so nice,” he whispered to Anna once they had settled into a pew.
She laughed. “It’s church, what did you expect?”
“Well, I don’t know. I guess I kinda thought they’d all be like, who are you and what are you doing here?”
Anna put her hand over Kyle’s. “They know what you’re doing here. They’re here for the same reason.”
He raised his brows. “Because their girlfriend is beautiful and it means a lot to her?”
She blushed and nudged him with her shoulder. “That’s not the only reason you’re here. Admit it, you’re curious.”
He looked around at the stained glass windows, the brightly lit sanctuary with the people buzzing round. “Yeah,” he said, and something dropped into an empty place in his spirit. “I’ve got a couple questions.”
“And so do they.”
Kyle turned to frown at her. “Come on, some of these people have to have been coming to church for a hundred years.”
“Almost,” Anna laughed, nodding to an elderly couple who waved at her from across the aisle. “But we come to church because no matter how old we get, there are still questions that come up in life that we can only get answered here.”
Not quite sure what to make of that, but somehow comforted by it, Kyle bent his head and started to flip through the bulletin.
In the end, he liked some of the music, had a bit of trouble following the sermon, and was unsure of all the standing up and sitting back down. What struck him most, however, was the friendliness of the people. More of them came to say hello when the service was over, including the minister. As he chatted with them, I could see that he had expected to sense some kind of snobbish undertones, indicating that these people thought they were better than he was. But he didn’t notice that at all, and neither do I.
At my nudging, he admitted something along these lines to the minister, who smiled. “Church isn’t a club where we congratulate ourselves for getting it all right,” he told Kyle. “It’s a clinic. The sick come to get better, and the healthy come to prevent themselves from getting sick. But you have to keep coming, because no matter how well you treat yourself, sin still sneaks in somehow.”
It was just the right metaphor, and Kyle was still thinking about it as he and Anna left. He took her out to lunch, and they talked about the service a bit, but mostly she let him think. And as she watched him turn all this over in his mind, there was a warm, hopeful glow in her heart.
It will take time, and patience on her part, but Anna has both to spare. And Kyle is coming to mean a great deal to her in many ways. I hope, for her sake and for his own, that he finds the right answers sooner rather than later.