View from the DSU Prayer Station - "Old School"

View of the central area of the DSU.

The wind is brutal today.  So it was back to my spot under the Into the Woods sign in the DSU.  One of the Canterbury students dropped by and ate her lunch at the station and another stopped by for a quick chat and a prayer.  I seem to be making friends with some of the staff, and one staff member requested prayers on behalf of another.  There was a family with 4 kids visiting CNU today and they spent a lot of time in the center of the open area where I sit.  One of the children looked to be about 3, and she was having a grand time running around between parents and siblings.  She took a liking to me because I kept smiling at her, and we did a bit of a peek-a-boo game around the sides of my sign.  She kept giggling and I would turn my head away from her and then turn back to grin at her and she would giggle again. 

I had a prayer request for a young person with stage IV cancer and another for a young person who has died.  I ache for what these young people are enduring.

Me in my "old school" sweater.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was when one of the skateboard dudes - today I should call him flip flop dude - came by to chat.  He told me he liked my sweater.  I thanked him and looked down at it, appreciating the compliment because it's one of my favorite sweaters.  "It's old school," he said, "but I like it."  "Oh, it's OLD SCHOOL," I laughed.  He cracked me up.  Here I am thinking I'm the hip chaplain, wearing the cool sweater.  Ha!  Old school.  So I made a joke about how that's what I can call my lack of current fashion.  "You're bringin' it back," he said.  "You're like, this is just what I've been wearing all along, but now it's old school!"  I'm still taking it as a compliment.

Some of the students who drop by to chat are a part of CRU, the new name for Campus Crusade.  They think it's so cool that someone would sit in public and pray for the school.  They talk about the Holy Spirit a lot.  When I told one student about our Diocesan Council meeting this weekend, he said, "Oh, so will you be praying and worshiping a lot and just blessing the year?"  Well, yeah, but it's also more like a business meeting.  Turns out some of the students are headed down to North Carolina this weekend for a prayer and worship event.  I thought about how different our experiences will be.  One student was excitedly anticipating time with God and the blowing of the Holy Spirit.  I told him we'd have to reconvene next week and compare notes.  Maybe our keynoter, Diana Butler Bass, will have some Holy Spirit up her sleeve this weekend! 

View of doors to my right leading to the Great Lawn

Today a number of people walked by, read the sign, made eye contact, and smiled.  I smiled back.  When I was in high school, I ran for state student office of the Thespian Club one year in GA.  There were several components to the election process, but one was a surprise.  The candidates were called on stage one by one in front of the whole convention while the others waited in a quiet room back stage, not knowing what would happen.  When I arrive onstage, the emcee said, "You have 30 seconds to show us your best talent."  As you might expect, most of the other candidates broke out into a song or dance or monologue.  I was frozen until I extended my hands and grinned - tah dah - as if I had just completed something amazing.  "My best talent is smiling," I said, desperate to come up with something.  I wish I could say that I was truly clever under pressure, but it really was a gift of desperation when I realized I hadn't actually done anything.  What it did was make me memorable.  "You're the girl that smiled," was what I heard for the rest of the convention.  I was elected.

As I sit at the prayer station, I try not to underestimate the value of a smile.  It may not always win elections, but it can do a lot to offer hospitality, to set someone at ease, to light up a person's day, to cheer someone up.  As I smile at the passers by, I try to imagine warmth and love and peace going out into the campus.  Maybe the smile will help them find the courage when they need to request a prayer or talk about something important.  Until then, I'll keep smiling at each and everyone.  Like I've been doing for a long time.  Old school.