I am a slow learner. Now I’ve never received that diagnosis but considering how hard headed I can be and how long it takes me to learn life lessons I don’t need someone else to tell me what I already know. I am a very slow learner.

Saturday morning I vowed to pay more attention to life. My intent was to not miss anything ever again (I know, another unrealistic expectation). I don’t know it if was because it was a new resolve or if I, once again, wasn’t paying attention but I almost missed a tremendous opportunity Saturday afternoon. Thank goodness for second chances!

I got home with the groceries before Lee Ann and Erica got home from their errands. When they got home, Erica burst into the house and with tremendous excitement in her voice called: Aunt Trudy, come and see the baby cucumber!

On a side note, the only thing I have ever been able to grow in the yard is weeds! A friend gave Lee Ann some cucumber plants and she has been our gardener this summer. That day we planned to eat the first fruits of her labors, a cuke large enough to harvest. And now, there were more?

Well, it had been a very busy day and my “bad” knee was really hurting. I mean on that smiley-faced medical 1-10 scale I was seriously close to a 10. Going to see the baby cucumbers meant a trip back down and then back up the stairs. I opted to keeping working on dinner instead.

Not heeding that call to come and see affected Lee Ann and Erica. Dinner was much more somber than usual.

After dinner, Lee Ann suggested we go walk. My knee had rested and I knew that giving in to the pain would not help it as much as exercise so I agreed to go. It took a while to realize I had no idea where either of my knee braces were and to locate the pair of walking shoes I vowed to use the next time we hit the track.

Going downstairs I thought Lee Ann had parked her car at an odd angle but didn’t think much about it. She was waiting for me at the back of the car. I didn’t see Erica but heard again: come and see the baby cucumber. I walked around the car to the cucumber patch and after what must have seemed like long minutes to them, looked up to see Erica standing with her arms spread wide apart presenting my new bicycle!

Suddenly the earlier come and see made perfect sense! Instead of the errands they claimed to have run, this wonderful pair had picked out a bike for me so I could ride with them! I was over come to the point of tears! What an incredibly thoughtful and generous gesture! How unexpected. And, because of my earlier slight, how unworthy I felt!

After exchanging hugs, we all three mounted up for a ride! Ah! How I had forgotten that incredible feeling of freedom that comes from coasting while the wind rushes past you. What sheer delight!

And I almost missed it – twice because I didn’t heed the call to come and see. I thought of all the times come and see is expressed in the Bible. What follows is always something awe inspiring! And isn’t that God’s invitation to us as we experience the life God has for us? Come and see!