Christina’s Serenade

Christina’s Serenade -- July 12, 2010 in Tema, Ghana

Christina was our chief cook last year in Ghana, and she has catered for us some this year as well. I very much admire and love her. She has this gentle, sweet spirit about her; an amiable calmness that makes you feel cared about and welcome. When she dances at church she moves with a gentle gracefulness, swaying in the rhythm of the music -- and you cannot help but feel the Spirit is dancing with her.

Sunday evening, I was feeling a bit down, frustrated and hurt about some issues. As the Grace Church group went into the back room for their meeting after dinner, I began to help clear the table. I’d take a load of plates and empty dishes into the kitchen, and she’d take them from me and stack them by the sink where Auntie Aggie started washing them. When we finished, I sort of hung around in the kitchen a little while, and David joined me there. And then God used Christina in a big way to lighten my spirits. We simply sat and talked a while.

We discovered we were all three Wednesday-born people. In Ghana people are given a middle name based on the day of the week that they are born. So Christina and I are both Akua and David is Kweku. At this revelation, she nodded and said that would explain our feeling of connection.

We told her how much we like to see her dance at church. Honestly, it is as beautiful an expression of praise as I have ever seen. She shared with us, “As I enter the worship, I give my whole body, my entire being to HIM. I dance with Him, and I dance for Him.” She spoke of King David dancing so totally in the Spirit that he danced out of his clothing and his wife chastised him. Chuckling, she said, “You cannot be concerned with pleasing the world. Like David’s wife, the world is never satisfied. You only concern yourself with pleasing the Lord.”

Later she remarked to us that she thought David and I “matched well together.” She explained that he is boisterous and energetic while I am calm and more reserved. “You balance one another,” she said -- which is something we’ve heard often, from many different people.

Her eyes twinkled and she laughed. “I want to tell you some gossip about you.” I thought ohhhh kaaaayyyy…. She’s known me for many years and I wondered what she was about to tell on me! She then said, “When I saw you here two years ago, I asked my friend, ’Who is this woman with the white hair?’ I could not believe it! I did not even recognize you -- your happiness has changed your whole face, your whole posture, your whole being!” We laughed, then David and I shared our love story with her. Soon everyone in the kitchen was laughing and enjoying each other’s company, sharing bits about our lives.

“Me? I am still looking. But for now I just dream,“ Christina told us. Then she began to sing that old Everly Brothers song, “Dream.“ David pulled me into his arms and we danced in the kitchen to Christina’s serenade.

Anita <><

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