This morning’s devotional is one more of those God moments that can’t be contrived, they just happen.
For various reasons, circumstances have often taken me and sometimes my family to Washington D.C. On one of those occasions, my family and I were there simply to visit relatives and do the “tourist thing.” As is typical for D.C. in the summer, this day happened to be hot, humid and very uncomfortable making every moment in air-conditioned comfort welcomed and walking between sites, extremely unwelcome.
As fate would have it, we had restaurant reservations for lunch this day and our feet were our conveyance to the destination. Having a six and nine-year-old in tow, one only need imagine our family’s emotional condition on that walk... pleasant does not resonate! Along the way we encountered an individual sitting on the sidewalk, on cardboard for heat reduction, with a sign reading, “please be generous I am blind.” This was back when Travelers Checks were preferred tender and I did not have “small” cash available... so, casting my eyes else ware, I pretended to not see this person. My six-year-old daughter, who had just learned to read said loudly enough for all to hear, “daddy you did not help this blind man.” Having only twenty-dollar bills in my money clip, I said, I will help him on my way back... I promise. This, not surprisingly did not satisfy my daughter and the remainder of the walk devolved even further. When arriving at the restaurant, Jenny passionately stated through tears, “I will not eat until you help that blind man” ... she was resolute and I knew it! Embarrassed by the less than subdued discussion, I humbly schlepped out of the restaurant and did what I should have done in the first place... with gratefulness for abundance, I handed the blind man a twenty-dollar bill from my clip, blessed and wished him well.
It took my six-year-old daughter to guide me in the way of kindness and compassion. Her genuine tears of compassion are indelibly etched in my mind. Reminding me frequently of the abundant blessings I have and the need for sharing compassionately, from a heart of gratitude.... thank you Jenny.
These past two days I’ve shared real-life events which I find intimately connected to the gospel of Jesus. The gospel is clearly a declaration of Jesus’s life, death and resurrection... gifting us life eternal... however, our gratitude is demonstrated by living Matthew 24:45 “...truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” I had an opportunity to be a role model for my family and it took my six-year-old daughter to be my teacher. “... and a little child shall lead them” Isaiah 11:6
In God’s love,
Paul H
