Twin Dresses of Love

There is a divinity within the human spirit that allows us to reach and connect to one another. I have always called that divinity God. Yes, I believe in God. It is interesting to me how eager my contemporaries are to eradicate that term, or to use alternate terms, instead of merely expanding it. God resides within us, a perfect and immortal essence that is part of us, a universal and unconditional love that is embedded within the self. If only we could rediscover it…

Few are enlightened but most, like us, experience only flickers of this divinity, glimpses of the love that is buried deep within our consciousness. Recently, I was offered such a glimpse.

I was shopping at Ann Taylor, one of my favorite fashion haunts, and I tried on a rather tight dress. A young woman called from the dressing room, “That dress looks fabulous on you; you should get it.” However, it clung too tightly around the abdomen for comfort and I promptly placed it back on the rack.

As I was browsing, the same woman joined me and we engaged in casual conversation. She was beautiful, masses of flamboyant gold-spun hair framed a fine-boned face, large, inquisitive eyes and full lips. She looked like a mermaid. Yet her face was a bit pasty around her nose and redder around her cheeks. Her name was Lisa.

Lisa confided that she had just returned from the plastic surgeon and was currently on painkillers, as a result of a car accident. Then on the subject of weight (inevitable topic with women), she told me she was happy to gain weight since she lost twenty pounds earlier due to cancer.

My heart went out to her, this radiant creature who had endured so much. She was only thirty-five. I took her hand and led her in a corner, where we began to pray. I don’t remember what I said, except I asked for blessings, abundant blessings to fall upon her and the awareness of being loved.

Tears sprung to her eyes and she said, “You don’t realize what you have done today. You have shared love with me and it is a ripple effect as I pass it along to my son. It is nothing short of monumental. This is how the world changes.”

Of course, I only thought she needed a prayer. Then Lisa decided to do something for me. I assured her it wasn’t necessary, but she picked up the dress I had tried on (00P) and then another one identical to it when she found out I also had a very petite friend. Against my protests, she took them to the register and bought them for me.

Twin dresses of love.

The story doesn’t end here.

The same dress revived my friend Nethea’s spirits when she was depressed, when I shared with her how someone who doesn’t even know her loved her and gave her a wonderful gift. Unfortunately, the dress was a tad too tight for her (positively scandalous, she informed me) and she gave it to a teenage girl who was sorely in need of a new dress.

Last I heard, the teenager had worn it to church and a cotillion, looking absolutely stunning. “Like a million bucks.”

Sounds like she wore the love well.

Love. Lisa, me, Nethea, and the teenager whose name escapes me. That is the divinity in all of us.