Enjoy Francis Gay’s Week

After a few years at her lowest, Mary has turned her life around. But second chances are rarely easy.

She applied for a job with a community project and was being given a tour of the facility, when someone called her name.

Realising he was interrupting an interview, the man apologised. “Sorry,” he said to the interviewer. “I know Mary from church. She’s wonderful.” Then he left.

“What he didn’t say,” Mary told me, “was that he knew me from the church café where I would get fed for free after spending my money on booze. He encouraged me to get help and drove me to AA meetings more than once. He didn’t say any of that. He said he knew me from church, which was a little true – and a lot kind.”

Words, and how we use them, can make a huge difference. Oh, and Mary got the job!