One Day

The bookstore is a favorite place to find books, browse, and enjoy the presence of interesting people. It was a Saturday morning. After browsing, I had selected several books and was at the counter paying for my purchases when I heard a woman and child talking as they walked toward the counter. The four-year-old child was delighted as she saw all the items along the aisle. She picked up something and held it up to the woman, and with an expectant gentle smile and soft voice, asked, “Can I have this?” The woman, who had turned to the child as she spoke, responded in a gentle voice as she looked at the child, “One day.”

“One day.” I was expecting “some day,”“not today,” or a simple “yes or no.” The sales receipt was handed to me. It was time to move on. However, in that glimpse of time, I remember looking again at the two engaged in the warmest of conversations and the hospitable familiarity of their relationship. I smiled as I walked out onto 86th Street bustling with people on an ordinary Saturday in New York City. Something out of the ordinary had just happened. “One day.” “One day.” The phrase kept coming to me as I walked home.

What a phrase of hope “one day” is! It is sure and confident. It is a “yes” in answer to a question. It implies trustworthiness and that you can count on it. “One day” says so much about a relationship. The child freely asked for something she wanted. The woman freely said wait until another time. There was no confrontation, no argument, and no fretting for either one. It was just a part of a conversation in a bookstore on a Saturday afternoon.

Returning to the hospital the following Monday, I shared the experience with the priest who appreciates these stories and experiences. He smiled and understood what I had said. I remarked that one day I would preach on the phrase “One day.” There is something so like G-d in the phrase. There is realistic hope. Our relationship with the Holy One, can be described in a way similar to that of the child and woman. How like G-d and us!

Waiting for “the day” can be a time of excited anticipation. At other times, waiting may challenge our trust. Do I really believe that G-d will be faithful, now, in the time of waiting? Could I convince G-d that I really need it now? Perhaps acknowledging the good I would do, would influence G-d to act sooner rather than later. How hard it is to wait with gentle patience when we believe that we know what is best for us.

Is there a way that G-d and humans have within us both the child and the woman? Can our relationship with ourselves, others and G-d be framed in “one day?” What does the metaphor of “one day” say about our relationships? Do we live out of a sense of trust and hope?

There may come a time when it is “this day,” a time of receiving. When “one day” becomes “this day,” our response is one of gratitude. The gratitude is for the gift and for the faithfulness of the Giver. Gratitude is also for our patience in waiting. Gratitude strengthens our hope and relationship when promises are fulfilled.

I could not have imagined the significance of a visit to the bookstore. In a glimpse of time, there was an opportunity to witness a relationship of trust and hope. The child’s acceptance of the answer models our response of faith in G-d. We can entrust our hope in the One who keeps promises fulfilled sometimes today and sometimes “one day.”

What day is this for you?