The Race That Knows Joseph

I love meeting new people. While growing up, I was often the “new girl” in school, so I had much practice at it. When I got older, people used to tease me about always being able to find out someone’s life story in a couple minutes, even the cashier at a grocery store.

I enjoy all kinds of people and learning about where they came from and what they love to do. But it’s like magic when I meet someone that I feel an instant connection with. The conversation gets more fun and real the longer we go because both of us are excited to find someone with similar interests or values. It is just easy to talk, and trust is built quickly. One of my friends calls it “resonance.” I agree with her.

Recently, though, we’ve been traveling a lot and meeting more new people frequently. In the middle of our conversation I might give my husband a look, and he’ll know what I’m thinking – “They belong to the race that knows Joseph.” (or in other cases, “Nope, no luck. No Joseph here.)

If you have read the Anne of Green Gables series, you’ll know what I mean. As a child, Anne was always in search of a “kindred spirit,” but as an adult, she learned that these types of people are “from the race that knows Joseph.” Here’s the explanation, straight from the story, a dialogue between Anne and her new friend Captain Jim.

“We both belong to the race that knows Joseph, as Cornelia Bryant would say.”

“The race that knows Joseph?” puzzled Anne.

“Yes. Cornelia divides all the folks in the world into two kinds– the race that knows Joseph and the race that don’t. If a person sorter sees eye to eye with you, and has pretty much the same ideas about things, and the same taste in jokes–why, then he belongs to the race that knows Joseph.”

“Oh, I understand,” exclaimed Anne, light breaking in upon her.

“It’s what I used to call–and still call in quotation marks `kindred spirits.’”

“Jest so–jest so,” agreed Captain Jim. “We’re it, whatever it is. When you come in tonight, Mistress Blythe, I says to myself, says I, `Yes, she’s of the race that knows Joseph.’ And mighty glad I was, for if it wasn’t so we couldn’t have had any real satisfaction in each other’s company. The race that knows Joseph is the salt of the airth, I reckon.”

Yep, salt of the earth. These salt-of-the-earth friends are worth their weight in gold. Near or far, I keep them close to my heart, and am always still on the lookout for others who are “of the race,” too.

Do you ever feel this, too? Would love to know . . .