by Ian Siever

Over the last few months I’ve been taking the bus wherever I go. In that time I have met many interesting people and overheard some interesting conversations. For example, there was this lady who drives the late night bus out front of Wild Island (where I work) on Wednesdays and Thursdays. For many weeks she would be the one picking me up after work. After about a week or so of riding her bus, this lady began having conversations with me like we might have been family friends. I found out she lives up near Tahoe and has three children. I loved chatting with her. What makes this special to me is the fact that, even though I already knew about it, it showed me how much people long to have connections with other human beings. To talk and to be heard.

Yesterday I saw another woman I usually see. I was almost going to be late for the bus (I even had to run) but the driver was kind enough to wait for me a second or two (which doesn’t happen often), so I barely made it. I get on the bus and there was this woman passenger already seated. She says to me, “Almost missed it.” I replied, “Almost, but thankfully the driver waited.” Now, I knew I had seen her before on the bus but I didn’t know how often. So she looks up at me and says, “Did you do something different with your hair?” For a brief moment I thought, what the heck, I don’t even know this woman and she’s asking me about my hair (I had just gotten my long hair cut short that week). So I formulated an answer, “Yes I did.”

“Well, it looks good on you, very handsome.” I told her thank you and took my seat. As I sat there I pondered who this woman was to remember anything about me? Why would she remember me let alone my hair? I have a feeling it’s Gods way to let us know that, no matter what, He’s always thinking about us. Sometimes the act of one person that you don’t even know can be the sign that tells you so.

After we stopped talking, I found myself thinking about her. I wondered little things about her, who she was, why is she taking the bus, only to realize that this one random person had had an effect on my heart.

No matter your age or how smart you are or how you look, if you take the time to listen to others and observe them, there’s a lot to learn. And more times than not, you start to fill a relational void in someone elses’ life while filling the one in your own.