So my wife is in line at the grocery store. The elderly lady standing in front of her asks her about her accent and they start talking. She asks Raquel to help her with a few things as she is almost completely blind. And ofcourse Raquel is happy to help.
It turns out she used to use a cane, but she stopped after being robbed three times. How anyone could rob an elderly blind lady is beyond me. It sounds as though she has a son who takes care of her, but it also seems she doesn't want to be "too" looked out for. She needs help. She wants her own independence as well. So what do you do?
This reminded me of a story my pastor told of a sweet old lady in their church. She was very poor and widowed. She needed a ride to church because she couldn't drive. She didn't have any family and few friends outside of church. But she put in a tithe check every week.
The elders of the church felt bad about taking the money of an elderly lady who was obviously poor and needed the money far more than the church did. Finally one night they went to her home, and told her how much they loved her, and asked her to use the tithe money to help pay her bills and such.
She started weeping. See what they didn't understand was she couldn't drive, she couldn't go to the evangelism rallies, she couldn't visit the sick, but the one thing she could do was pay her tithe. And they were taking even that away from her. It was the last thing she could take any dignity from.
Sometimes things aren't so simple, infact usually they are not. Our job is to learn to love, listen and follow God's leading. My wife helped her as much as she was asked, prayed for her, and left feeling guilty she couldn't have done more. What do you do?
Thank God He walks with us
the rev
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2 comments:
We can only do for others as much as they allow. To force kindness isn't love. Besides, our kindness isn't necessarily kindness to them. All we can really do is love them and try to understand them. People will open up if we let them be themselves and love them all the same.
This is a wonderful piece of writing.
I like what I meet here on this blog because it takes tangential and "real" shifts from the dullard mindsets of so many...no judging there, you understand!...not obvious, not normal, not blinkered, not dead...yes please, more posts like this....thank you rev.
Bolty.
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