A smile moment

There's an elderly deacon at the church who calls every day to see who's in the hospital, so he can go visit them. We always have a nice little conversation - he's such a sweet man. Today before he hung up, he said to me, "You always look so nice when you're standing up there at the pulpit."

Now, who doesn't love a compliment? But the fact that he said, "when you're at the pulpit," and not just "on the podium," really meant a lot to me. The fact that he sees the pulpit as a place where I am fully welcome and allowed to stand and speak...it's a great thing. And it gives me more hope as this church more and more comes to recognize me not just as support staff, but as a minister.