Tonight Lola and I were out dropping off donated items to some needy families. I had gotten a phone call about one family in particular who were going thru some really difficult times with much trepidation about the future and so they became my goal today. We had some quick internet exchanges and some awesome people stepped forward big time to make sure 5 kids had a Christmas. I also had a hundred dollars burning in my pocket. That money was given to me tonight by a friend to give to them to help out. I did not realize until an hour after I dropped off toys and food, that I had forgotten to give them the money. But heres why; Lola had told me about a former co worker who was really struggling, a single mom, and she was on her heart all day. we had 9 turkey meals to give out and Lola called her to see if shed be home. Yes she works, but its not a great job and shes a single mother, do the math. This gal told Lola that she had heard about someone in the neighborhood giving away turkey dinners, but she was too late and had missed it, and she really had wanted a turkey dinner for her and her son, she was genuinely bummed. Well, we had a turkey dinner (with all the fixins too) in our car. So cool, we went over there to give it to her. When we walked in I quickly scanned her apartment. This woman had NOTHING, and I mean nothing. no furniture save for one small table and one chair and a TV. thats it. She had a few pots and pans and some basic food stuffs, obviously she was struggling. In the corner of her living room was a two foot plastic Christmas tree, and there were two presents under that tree and they were lumpy, the kind that means they were not in a box and were probably socks and underwear..... Then I saw her son while she and Lola were talking. He was about ten years old, super polite and sweet and without a hint of being jaded or hardened when growing up in such circumstances can so easily do that to a child. I kept looking at that tree man, and those two presents and I was thinking that they were going to be his entire Christmas and he was probably pretty excited about it too. And I had that hundred dollars in my pocket, a hundred that was meant for someone else. I kept mulling it over silently. I could drive back to the original family tomorrow, or I could give this lady the cash instead. I kept looking at that kid and his very gentle spirit and those two presents that Im quite sure his mother sweat bullets over to get, even if they were just socks and underwear. And his mother was such a sweet and dignified person even in her struggle, she too had somehow remained unscathed from what had to have been years of it. These were good people who just badly needed some breaks. I just couldnt take it man. That little kid and his mother just messed me up and so I slipped her the cash as we left in a way where everyones dignity remained intact and of course she took it, she needed it, she needed that money probably more than anyone else on earth did today, a few days before Christmas and she needed that turkey dinner like no one else did either....her spirit needed it, and I needed to see it and to see that little tree and think to myself Jesus Christ this lady has seen some real struggle but she has not lost herself and she has quite obviously passed that gift on to her son. Ok, so a bird and a couple of bucks, no big deal. Except that it IS a big deal,. because that free turkey dinner that struggling single mother missed out on and that money that I had forgotten to give to someone else were not circumstantial, they were divine providence. And neither were the hearts of the people who gave me those resources today, that too was divine providence. Divine providence at Christmas time.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 04:37:57 +0000
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