Tuesday nights are a welcome reprieve from the marathon whirlwind of a Fellows week. It’s a chance for me to relax and really enjoy being here with my host family and also just by myself for a while. Stillness and quiet, in my opinion, are underrated—stillness and quiet with the Lord even more so. Work has been pretty hectic the past few days, and the high level of interaction there combined with a weekend of travel, panel discussions and meeting people have left a moderately (according to the latest tests) introverted soul in me somewhat strained and numbed by the sensory overload.

So when I sat down at the table for dinner, my weak smile was real because I was looking forward to spending a quiet evening with them: parents of two sons, one away at college and the other a fallen war hero. I didn’t know the afternoon had been somewhat stressful for my host parents; they always asked about my day and weekend first, and I always take them up on it before asking about theirs. So it was only after dinner, after talking about finance and insurance, after the mother left for a book club and the father and I played Backgammon (which he taught me to play and then schooled me next game) when he opened his inner life to me once again.

Not that it’s that difficult to see it from the outside, but it’s another thing entirely for a man to volunteer his weakness out of love for me, disdaining the shame because he knows Jesus transforms it into a fruit of God-exalting wisdom. It’s such a small thing. But it means everything because it’s for Christ, Christ not as an abstract ideal or set of ideals, but as a person. It’s for you, Jesus. And because he really does it for you out of love for you—he knows you—therefore I know I am truly loved with God’s love, for the Father loves the Son. And because he knows you, I can know you more through him.

Albert Lee is a graduate from Princeton University with a focus in Public Policy, a current employee at Elder Research in Charlottesville, and an active class member in the Trinity Fellows Program.

One component of the Trinity Fellows Program is placement with a host family where a fellow spends time partnering, discussing, living, and serving with others.