In thinking back on my May trip to Israel for EduCare projects, I recalled a brief incident that happened about a year prior. It was one of those momentary, seemingly inconsequential, occurrences that in fact have a lasting influence. It took place not in Israel, but late one night outside of a 7-Eleven convenience store in Santa Monica. I was starting my drive home late that night after my USM class. Stopping to buy a sandwich, I pulled into the small parking lot at the nearby 7-Eleven.

A tall, disheveled homeless man came up to my car window and asked if he could wash my windows. My first response was a curt “no thanks”. I paused and realized that my windows could in fact use a cleaning and that he seemed nice enough- so I told him to go ahead.

Going inside, I picked up my tuna sandwich and as I waited in line to pay, I looked outside and watched him busy at work cleaning my windshield. He cleaned it with such gusto and impeccable thoroughness…intent on cleaning each part of it so completely. He did not look about for me. He just earnestly kept at it. As I watched from inside, I felt as if it wouldn’t be right to interrupt him. It seemed as if I was watching a very dear and special work of importance in progress, and who was I to interrupt it.

I commented to the cashier as we both watched. He told me that he had seen this man around and that he seemed somehow special in that way. After a few more minutes of my watching him with great wonderment, I walked outside to my car. He looked at me somewhat apologetically and said that he was sorry that he could not get all the marks off the windshield. His words and sincerity of heart touched me deeply. Here was a man who did such an incredible job and he only wished he could have done more. I told him how great a job it was and how pleased I was with what he had did. I gave him money— much more than I had planned to give— and then thanked him again as I got into my car. He didn’t seem to look at how much I gave him, but just turned and walked inside the store. He then looked at the money and then up at me. We waved. It was very special.

As I drove, I reflected on God’s presence within all of us. I saw myself reflected in this man. I reflected on how I often go about life doing my best, forgetting how well pleased God is with me. The words, “in you, I am well pleased” were with me. I thought of how Spirit fills in the gaps between what I do and what may be needed and that placing ourselves forward in His Light is all that is required. The rest is God’s. And in this way, He is well pleased.

Such was the case during my May trip to Israel. It was my fifth trip to Israel in the last two years. It seems that whenever I go to Israel, that no matter how well planned things are, much changes. The purpose of this trip was to coach and co-facilitate with two Israeli facilitators an EduCare ACE student training in northern Israel (Haifa), to lead a teachers’ workshop for Jewish teachers at a middle school, to meet with college administrators of a teachers’ college about future trainings for their faculty, and to meet with an Israeli foundation about sponsoring our projects in Israel. It was to be a lot over the four days I was to be there.

The night before I was to leave for Israel, I received a call in LA from Israel asking me to facilitate the Insight I in Tel Aviv for a few nights until Dianne Sleek, the scheduled facilitator, was able to arrive. Her dad had suddenly died and after many attempts, the Israeli Insight community could not find a replacement till she was to arrive later that week. I love Insight and the people in Israel who organize it. I was honored to have facilitated their first Insight seminar in Israel in 1995. Since that time they have continued on creating dozens of Insight seminars. Their growth has meant a lot to me.

So I agreed to reorganize my EduCare schedule so as to allow me to do the EduCare trainings and meetings in Haifa, then, late in the afternoon, take a taxi south to Tel Aviv (about 1 1/2 hours) for Insight, and then return late at night to Haifa for a few hours sleep for the next day’s EduCare programs in Haifa. The travel was long and included two delays as police twice stopped traffic as they checked for potential bomb threats along the highways. The first night, I did not sleep at all. I asked Spirit to provide me with the energy for the next day and for the following days to come.

The days were graceful and fun. The Insight seminar in Tel Aviv went very well with Dianne arriving on the third day to continue on with the group. The workshops with the ACE students (7th graders at a Jewish middle school) in Haifa focused on service and kindness. As part of the workshop project, they welcomed next year’s incoming 6th graders to the school by having them join in a morning of ACE with them. It was wonderful! At the meetings with the Teachers’ College and then with the Israeli foundation seeds were planted respectively for providing future EduCare seminars at the college on Heart-Centered Teaching and Learning and for providing EduCare workshops (for Arab and Jewish children and adults) at Haifa’s new Children’s Cultural Center. Light with it all.

So where does the 7-Eleven fit in with all of this? In reviewing my Israel trip, I realized that I (we) get to wash the windshield of God’s car/vehicle- this world of ours- the best way I (we) know how. Sometimes, I may be unsure if I am using the right window cleanser or even if I am wiping the right window. Yet I know that dear God is present (though perhaps not munching on a tuna sandwich) and seeing the goodness of the service, and in each of us through His grace, the message is the same:

“In you, I am well pleased.”

My service is my joy, my gift. Much Light as we continue to reach out to one another and the world and share in God’s loving kindness.