Stuck away in a conference room on the second floor of the office building is a group of hard-working interns and volunteers with a few of the church staff. The trash is overflowing with used coffee cups and the remainders of snacks. One lone person is typing furiously on the computer while several others deal with the mountains of cards scattered around the table.
“Okay, here’s one.” The cute blonde intern giggles. “Rose wants to be in a group with her friend, Lily, and …” She puts emphasis on the ‘and’ knowing the others understand how hard it is to match people with groups. “She wants her leader to be Daisy!” She collapses in her chair in laughter.
“Wait!” The serious quiet intern speaks up. “I have one looking for a women’s group and her name is Iris.” The blonde continues laughing and looks down at the card.
“I have one with the name Violet. How old are these women?” The oldest one in the room glares at the blonde girl and smiles at the quiet young man. Sobering, the blonde girl looks at the card in her hand. “Well, Rose is in her early twenties but Lily is, is, where is it?” She shuffles through the cards next to her. “Lily is in her mid-thirties.”
“There are more here.” The lady on the computer straightens her shoulders. “I’ve got an Iris, Camellia, and a Jasmine.”
The cute blonde intern starts giggling all over again. The staff guy shrugs his shoulders. “Why not? They all want to be in a women’s group. They are all women. And since Rose wants Lily in her group, we have an age range.”
“So, what?” Says a grinning volunteer. “We have some Planted flowers?” The cute blonde leads the room in a round of laughter. The other staff member asks for the cards. He clips them together and then bows his head. The others quickly bow their heads. “Lord, here is a group of women looking for friends. Watch over them as they begin this journey together. Let us know if we’ve made any mistakes. Amen.”
The others in the room murmur “Amen.” The girl at the computer makes more changes and the quiet volunteer sighs. “How many more do we need to put together?”
“Let’s check. How does it go with the computer?” He points at the girl typing furiously away.
“I have… 37 more here that aren’t connected to a group.” Groans from the blonde girl elicit more glares.
The oldest member of the group is busy gathering cards. “Twenty-seven, twenty-eight.” She searches the table. “Any more?” Everyone looks around and the quiet one checks under the table.
“Great, less the 60 left to match. Let’s get busy and we could be done in an hour!” Everyone sits up looking more attentive. “Is there more coffee?” They all groan.
