Story of the week……Dan and I were driving down a back-road this weekend. We drove past a trailer park and observed an old woman sitting on a bench over-looking a pitiful garden that needed grooming. At the same exact time, we looked at each other and said “Awww, she looks sad.”
Because my husband has a bigger heart than me, he said,
“Let’s stop and talk to her!” (He’s an adventurer, with a desire to talk to random people)
My first response was,
“No way! – I’m not doing that! Keep driving! We’ve got better things to do today!” (I’m a person that loves to hang out in my own little comfort zone, with no desire to talk to anyone, except those I ‘have’ to)
Because he often listens to his wife, Dan kept driving.About a mile down the road, I said, “You know what, I always talk about how WE NEED to be the ‘hands and feet of Jesus’ – Let’s go back and bring her a flower, You’re RIGHT!”
Dan was thrilled, as this definitely qualified as an adventure, WAY out-of-the-ordinary for me. We stopped and bought a MUM and put it in the back of our car. We drove back to the trailer park, and no one was sitting on the bench.
Dan’s thoughts:
“Bummer, let’s drive around and knock on trailer doors till we find her”My thoughts:
“Sweet, we can leave now, it was the thought that counts”As we drove down the first road of the trailer park, Dan spotted her. He called out the window, “Hi, were you just sitting out on that bench by the road?” She said, “Yes, what do you want from me?”
I won’t waste your time with the entire hour-long conversation. However, I will tell you that in the first 5 minutes of our conversation with
LEOLA, we heard these phrases come out of her mouth:
“Yes, but what do you want from me?”“Well, I don’t get it.”“Why are you giving this to me?”“Well, are you selling those?”“But, what do you want?”“And, WHO ARE YOU, again?”“But, why are you here?”After spending time with
LEOLA, my thoughts are this. Why do people automatically think that YOU WANT SOMETHING from them? Why are people in this world so skeptical of being ripped off, or hurt by others?
Why did
LEOLA keep asking us,
“WHY?”I’ll tell you one reason. Because people like me have a FIRST RESPONSE like,
“No way! I’m not doing that! Keep driving! We’ve got better things to do today!”I've learned a valuable lesson this weekend.
In order to be ‘the hands and feet of Jesus’ – you actually have to
DO SOMETHING.
