Sometimes, a simple gesture of kindness speaks more than a thousand words. Last week we heard this precious story from Stevenage Vineyard. 

A quiet lady often comes to Stevenage Vineyard’s Foodshed project unnoticed. Recently, one of the ladies who is a part of Stevenage Vineyard and volunteers with the project felt like she should gift her with a bunch of flowers. The recipient wrote a letter thanking this lady and explaining what it felt like from her point of view…

“To the lady who gave me flowers.

I just wanted to jot down a few words to thank you for the flowers last week. I had collected my food and was walking down the stairs when you chased after me. Thank you so much. I had been struggling emotionally as well as everything else. I hadn’t spoken to anybody in over a week. I was pretty sure that even God wasn’t listening to me anymore and felt that I had become invisible.

Being invisible isn’t a superpower as one imagines as a child. It is lonely. It makes you wonder why you should wake up and it reminds you that you are nothing – totally worthless, a useless lump of flesh that no one can see or hear or feel. With no end in sight, I question what I am doing here.

Last week you saw me. Although you didn’t say anything to me. You saw me. Every day since, I wake up and look at my flowers on the window sill of my temporary accommodation and instead of thinking of past horrors, or an abyss in the future, I remember that I can’t be completely invisible. Not yet. You saw me. 

I cannot tell you the despair I have been through in the last eight years, not without crying. But your thoughtfulness and impulse to chase me, makes me see and feel hope. I don’t know if you believe in God. I do. God bless you and your kindness, you saved my life.”