My Centre Court Moment

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Last year, I had my own Centre Court moment. Not on a tennis court, but outside my local mosque.

A man approached me and said, “I remember you. You spoke here years ago. It changed my life.”

Around twenty years ago, I used to give tours of our local mosque to schoolchildren, teachers and the occasional  parent. I’d explain the basics of Islam and answer questions.

I was touched by this unexpected encounter. I’d always hoped the tours might help clear up a few misconceptions, but I hadn’t ever expected anyone to describe one as life-changing.

So I asked him what he meant.

He replied, “As a result of meeting you, I had speech therapy.”

That was not the answer I was expecting.

Seeing my confusion, he explained that somewhere between the prayer hall and the part about why Muslims take their shoes off, I’d mentioned that my young child, who was with me that day, was having speech therapy.

To me, it had been a passing comment. To him, it had been permission.  He’d been struggling himself. Hearing someone speak so matter-of-factly about getting help prompted him to seek help too.

Years later, he wanted to say thank you.

I was delighted for him. But we’d shared exactly the same conversation and come away with completely different things.

I’d spent hours preparing that mosque tour. Thinking through explanations. Anticipating questions. Choosing carefully what I wanted people to understand.

Yet the part that changed his life wasn’t any of that. It was a sentence I couldn’t even remember saying.

It brought to mind a question God asks in the Qur’an, the book Muslims turn to for guidance: “Have you considered what you sow? Is it you who make it grow, or are We the Grower?”

I can prepare carefully for the moments when I think I’ll make a difference. But I don’t always know which words or actions will take root in someone else’s life.

Ever since, I’ve found myself wondering how often I leave a conversation thinking I know what mattered, while someone else walks away carrying something completely different. Perhaps my real Centre Court moments aren’t the ones I think I’m playing in. They’re the ones I’ve almost forgotten.

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