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A walk

This morning as I was taking the dog for a walk down our usual trail, I was once again getting frustrated because he wouldn't behave.  This is how my morning usually starts off, getting mad at the rambunctious little dog and then being in a bad mood for the next hour.  There are many things on the streets to distract a puppy from taking care of business.  

So this morning as I walked down our normal little path, I noticed a man walking behind me.  I realized as he began to pass me that he had down syndrome.  He was probably about 40 and reminded me of a guy we used to have at our fellowship named Joey.  Joey loved G and was probably one of the most joyous people I have ever know....I was just a child then, but I don't think I'll ever forget Joey.  

As I walked the man looked at me and stared for a few seconds before I put my head down, and walked to the other side of the path.  I was afraid, afraid he might talk to me, afraid he might ask me for money.  As I walked on down the path and the man went further ahead of me, my Father gently reminded as a lyric from a song popped into my head, "I'm the least of these, I'm the least of these." Ashamed and broken I walked on down the trail, the man with down syndrome was too far ahead for me to catch him now especially since I had the dog.  So what if that little man had wanted to talk, so what if he had wanted money or my water bottle.  What if he was another Joey.  What if he could understand.  What if in a culture that has looked down on him and given him nothing his whole life, I could have given him peace, hope, love, or just a smile.  Ashamed yet, in my pride, and vanity, I couldn't even look at that man or talk to him.  Father, forgive me for my disobedience and sn.  Help me to look on everyone as You see them. 

 Here are part of the lyrics to the song Least of These, by DecembeRadio:  
"be love to me, be hope to me 

cause I'm the least of these 
I'm the least of these 
cause I'm the least of these 
I'm the least of these 
be love, be love, be grace to me, be peace to me 

cause I'm the least of these 
I'm the least of these 
cause I'm the least of these 
I'm the least of these 

my heart is crying out, my hands are reaching out 
my heart is crying out, my hands are reaching out 
be love, be love to me, be love....

Don't forget that J is "the least of these," and to take today to be love.  If you miss it, trust me you'll regret it. 

Beautiful Feet 

Comments

Kim Setser said…
Whitney, I really enjoy your posts. This one reminded me of a lesson learned this week at work. I know you don't know much about me but I am a nurse practitioner, working in a hospital here in Morristown. I was taking care of a lady who has brain cancer and will likely not live much longer. She could understand what I was saying but could not speak. No use of her right side at all. She was there all alone the first two days I did rounds and of course, I did all the talking. We had to discuss her end of life wishes, which is another story, but primarily I went away with a feeling that I needed to talk to her about J. The next day came and I even closed the door when I went into her room, but I just couldn't get peace about what to say or how to say it. I thought maybe I was just making excuses. The next day as I walked down the hall, I thought what if she dies and I still don't know if she's saved or not...I will always wonder. There was even a question at this point how much she did understand. Well when I got to the room, her family was there, her dad, mom and sister. In the course of conversation about her health and plans for discharge, her dad said to me "well, we know it's not good from here but you do know that she's saved, she is looking forward to seeing J." Needless to say I was in tears, telling him thanks for letting me know because I was concerned. G does work in mysterious ways, PTL.Turns out her dad was a preacher and he was as certain as he could be that she had true salvation. So sometimes when you don't "share," God may be protecting you from something. Keep up the good work.
October 20, 2009 at 11:03 AM
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