A week or so ago hubby wasn't feeling up to par and he went to bed early. When I went to bed later I did not turn on a light so as not to wake hubby. Big. Mistake.
Earlier that day I'd been folding clothes and putting them away - but failed to close a dresser drawer. You guessed it. I ran into it in the dark...twice....! Yeah...it's complicated. (But I didn't wake up hubby, but I scared the dog.)
Anyway I wound up with a technicolor shin bone and two big scrapes. Fast forward a couple days to Sunday. Grandkids were here. My oldest grandson (22 mo) had a sore finger which he showed me. I promptly kissed it for him. Then I showed him my shin bone. He looked at me with his big blue eyes then leaned over and kissed my sore leg.
It touched my heart so deeply. He recognized a hurt and quickly did what he thought would help.
I started thinking about it. When we see hurting people, do we quickly respond with what can help? Or do we have to discuss it in our mind, debate what is the correct course of action to meet the need, and then assume that we aren't equipped, or someone else will handle it, or the person might reject our assistance or take offense?
Fast forward to the grocery store - a cashier (we'll call her Sue) was having an obviously bad day. While I was waiting for my turn, I had that little conversation in my head...not wanting to become involved for fear of not having the right words, or being told to butt out. When it was my turn to check out Sue said robotically, "Hi, how are you?" I responded, "I'm okay. But it sounds like you're having a tough day." She immediately teared up and told me she got a call from her sitter telling her her daughter was very sick. She had tried to get off - but her manager said no because there was no one else to cover.
Have you ever not responded to someone who was hurting? It is easy to help little children, or family members. But, what about acquaintances or even strangers. How many times have I just said, "oh- I'm so sorry to hear" and walked away not doing what I knew would help? Why do we not invoke the Name of the One who CAN help in all things? Fear? Embarrassment? Shame?
James 4:17 says, "Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." If someone were drowning would we debate about throwing a life ring?
I reached over to Sue and laid my hand on top of hers and said, "Lord, be with Sue's little girl and help Sue to be able to get off early. Amen." It took about 5 seconds. I squeezed her hand and said "it's going to be okay." She teared up again and nodded. I had a large order and she proceeded to check me out without saying anything. As I was paying my bill the manager came over. She told Sue, 'I called so-and-so...she said she'd come in. She'll be here in about 20 minutes if you can wait until then.' Sue nodded to her manager and then turned to me and said 'thank you.' I smiled and said, "God is good."
Make a difference today - demonstrate God's compassion.
Laura
On a personal note - there is a friend of mine whose son is going to have a 4th brain surgery for severe epilepsy. There medical expenses are huge as is their lodging while at the hospital. Please pray for their needs. There is also a fund raising site for them, if you could help it would be such a blessing. More of their story is on my other blog http://grandmamiller.wordpress.com/2013/09/18/grandmas-boo-boo-helping-renn/
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