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Whenever I wanted to experience the reflection of abundance from the Universe, I would have lunch at a Chinese restaurant around the corner from where I worked in Ambler, PA. It’s called Golden Great Wall and it differs not a bit from most suburban places and the menu in and of itself isn’t unusual .  What makes it special is the owner, aptly named Grace who always greets me at the door with her bright smile and the same words “Long time, no see. You work hard?”  She then ushers me to a table and pours water and tea and then recites the order that I generally place that shows me I am a regular.  “Egg drop soup, no scallions, brown rice, chopsticks.”  And then whatever the entrée is, which varies from time to time between two or three. By the time the soup is halfway gone, she has come out with the main course. Before I have taken a few bites, she asks:  “You like?”  A few more minutes pass and she has already refilled my water glass, topping it off a couple of times. One time when I was there,  it occurred to me that this was definitely symbolic of the way I had been perceiving my life. At that restaurant, my glass is never half empty or half full, it is always full, almost to overflowing.

A short while later, I knocked over the glass and actually ‘saw’ myself doing it in advance, (kind of like when you lock your keys in the car) but couldn’t catch it before it splattered water and ice cubes on the table and floor. I got up to get a towel to clean it up and then carried the rapidly melting cubes to the bathroom sink. On the way, I passed a table on which there were plates of freshly made veggie sushi. I commented on them and asked Grace if they were going to be new menu items. She shook her head and then said, “You have some.”  I thanked her and asked for one. She wasn’t about to just give me one. “No, you take more.”, as she put two on a plate. A moment later, she came bearing a third. Clearly there was a message I wasn’t getting. I willing accepted her generosity.

When it came time for the fortune cookie, I opened it with eager anticipation, since this was a restaurant at which (a year or so apart) I twice received the same fortune that reads:  “God will give you everything you want.” I keep it in my wallet as reminder of how openhanded Spirit is.  Today’s was just as powerful, but not particularly unique:  “Your happiness is wrapped up in your view of life.”

I haven’t worked at the hospital since June and haven’t visited with Grace since then, so I guess it’s time to stop by. Even so, I know I am fortunate, regardless of whether a slip of paper tucked into a sweet treat tells me that I am.