Dung Nhi

Dungy

How are yall? School, life, and work still busy since the last time I asked? I wouldnt expect any other answer. =) Same with me.

It is 12:33 A.M., and I have to wake up early, but I need to share, from God and my heart, to you all. I hope you will spare some time to read my sharing.

Today, tears came to my eyes, twice. Sweet tears and bitter tears.  I will share about the bitter tears first.

Tonight, I worked as a waitress in a Thai restaurant.  And I encountered not very nice people. It was 10 minutes till closing, it had been a long day, and I was so ready to go home.  Then a couple came in and sat at a table of six waiting for their friends.  Things started off normal. I got their drinks and put in their appetizer order for Kai Satay.  Their friends arrived, and I got their drink orders and put in the other guy’s appetizer order, another Kai Satay. While waiting, I took a bite of my dinner because I had not eaten dinner.

Bad things started to happen when I brought out second Kai Satay. The guy said where is his 2nd one? He had ordered two, not one Kai Satay.  I must not have heard him.  True, I ordered only one.  It was closing time and the cooks hurried to close up the kitchen.  I then realized that I had not brought out their drinks either! Doodie. I apologized, ran back into the kitchen and begged the cook to prepare another Kai Satay.  But they already cleaned the grill.  Bottom line: NO.

So, I came back out with a heavy heart, apologizing and asked if the Guy wanted something else.  Luckily, their dinner came out then, and I ran to get the late-comers’ drinks.  The dinner order was wrong.  They ordered 3 CH Fried Rice...one with NO veggies and extra spicy. The cooks, in haste, took the order from me without acknowledging “no veggies and extra spicy.”  Not surprisingly, those same two guys were upset, and all I could do was sigh heavily and apologized more.  Worse, we couldn’t prepare another dish because the cooks already “closed up shop.” Those two guys were unhappy, and the girlfriends kept quiet. I was pulled down more at the sight of all the rice and tomatoes scattered on the floor.  He didn’t like the food and just threw it anywhere, mostly on the floor.

Why??? It’s past closing time, and I wanna go home.  The cooks need to go home. I apologized once more, but they did not acknowledge my apology.

Steve, my manager, asked, “Are they okay now?”

“No, they’re really unhappy.” I muttered.

He was about to say more but I had already seeked refuge in the restroom. I cried.  And I prayed.  I prayed for strength to overcome the situation.

When I came out, they were still eating.  I put a smile on my face and continued to serve.  They left about 40 minutes after closing. They left no tip, which was okay. I did not expect it.

I did not care for other things ran through my mind. Why did they have to come in so LATE!!! And things just tumbled downhill. I never planned for the orders to be wrong. I never planned to end my night with such a sad and heavy heart.

When I came home, I talked with my Dad about work that night. I couldn’t hold back tears when I shared with him what happened. I thought that once I left the restaurant, I could leave the sadness there, but it still clung to me when I came home. I cried harder when my dad consoled me.

He remind me that God Loves me SO MUCH. And I Love him so much too. I do. When you love someone, you just want to feel what they feel right? You want to be sad when they’re sad, be happy when they’re happy, be pulled down when they’re pulled down, so that they’re NOT ALONE at all. God loves me so much, he wanted me to feel a piece of what he lived through. Humiliation, being looked down upon, being misunderstood, and still serving unconditionally. God gave me this chance to feel His pain, so that I might love Him even more and empathize with Him. I could accept the experience, offer it to God and pray for the other people and for myself, or I could deny the experience and be angry and hold a grudge against those customers and against God.

I still cry even NOW as I write to you because I feel His Love for me. I am thankful that allows me to taste humiliation and pain. I am serving God. Through my customers, God is whom I want to please, to make happy.

From this experience, I also realized that though I feel “close enough” to God, by praying every night, going to church every week, “doing good,” the Journey with God is perpetual.  Limitless.  I am never “good enough” to stop trying to become more like God.  There are so many more miles to grow in Love with God.  Just when I think I’ve reached the “self-actualization” step in the hierarchy of human needs, or am on top of everything, I fall again to be reminded: I am Human and I Need God. Humbleness is needed.

Ah, and about my sweet tear story? It SNOWED today in Amarillo, TEXAS!!!  YAHOO! I was sooooooo excited. I had lecture this morning from 8-12. It started snowing around 8:30 a.m. The first break we got, I stepped outside to enjoy the beauty of the snow falling, so quick and light!

I was the only one in my class who was excited about the snow. To those up NORTH or Northeast, I know it’s nothing NEW to ya’ll, but I have never, ever seen a flake of snow by itself fresh from the sky before. I’ve seen it in coloring books or in elementary when cutting out patterns of snowflakes, but I never knew how they looked in Life.

As I stood there, I took in the moment by closing my eyes and feeling the snow fall onto my face.  I stuck out my tongue and felt tiny flakes melt on my tongue.  I stuck out my hands and saw it vanish instantly.  I looked at my bright blue jacket and saw a flake the first time in my life. WOW. It’s beautiful. I never imagined how it really looked. The snowflake itself was so DELICATE, INTRICATE, PRECIOUS, DETAILED, AWESOME. Tears came to my eyes, and they would have poured down my cheeks if my classmates were not there.  I could not believe that something so tiny like that was just so beautiful, one of the most beautiful creations from God that I’ve seen in this world. (Niagra falls, the Grand Canyon, Sunsets - all so breathtaking) But this tiny snowflake, these precious flakes, by themselves, took my breath away too. They’re all different, totally unique from the others and just so neatly formed...wow. W-O-W.

I felt and saw God’s awe and wonder in those flakes today. My heart was touched, in a very good way. And I Loved God so much at that moment. I praised Him. He’s so awesome and full of wonder. Yep!

So. God let me experience two opposite experiences today...good and bad with tears in my eyes in both situations.  I thanked HIM for both. May He bless my heart to become a stronger person, in Christ, so that I may continue to serve Him with all my heart.  And may He bless those who are in need of love and tenderness from Him.

He certainly blessed me tonight. And I thank Him for letting me see those blessing through my Dad. I love him too (my dad).

God bless you in your hardships. Always remember, He LOVES YOU SO MUCH. And Loves you enough to let you experience what He went through all FOR US! He had a choice to come down and become human to die for us...or just forget about us! But he did the other, Dying for us, being Humiliated, pulled down, carrying allllll these crosses for US.

God bless you ~ Good night ~ bonne nuit ~ buenas noches.

Love always,

Dungy - TX