Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father,

Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat.

 I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink;

I was a stranger and you invited Me in;

naked and you clothed Me;

I was sick and you visited Me;

I was in prison and you came to Me.’

“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying,

‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed You,

Or thirsty, and give You drink?

‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked and clothe You?

‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.

Matthew 25:34-40, New American Standard Bible

 

But I Am Right!

            On no, I thought with anger, she’s parked behind her house again. Now it will be almost impossible to angle my car so I can get in the garage. I am so mad.

            Later while running some errands, the tirade continued. God, she just makes me so angry not following the rules and always parking in the back when visiting and now she’s moving in. This is going to be horrible. Getting in my garage will be next to impossible. I’m just going to call her and tell her blah, blah, blah—the rant continued as I primed myself to do battle. Someone had to protect my rights. Oh, she would know just how I felt.

 Anger filled the car, and there certainly was no sense of God’s presence. Even so, in my head I sensed that He was telling me to go to my favorite restaurant, get some bread and a salad and take them to her.

            I almost slammed on the breaks of my car in the middle of the road. Get her some bread and buy her a salad, I roared in my mind. Buy why? She’s wrong! I’m right. She’s not following the rules!

            Though totally sure of my stance, the message wouldn’t change—go get some bread and a salad and take them to her. No, I protested. That’s not right. But no matter how strong the righteous indignation, what I was being commanded to do couldn’t be ignored.

            Without any love in my heart, I bought the bread and salad. When I got home, my soon to be new neighbor was not there as she was continuing the move. Taking my key, I let myself in her place, put the food in the refrigerator and left a note that I thought she might enjoy the meal. Trust me, the kindness being shown belied my true feelings.

            Later that night my new neighbor called and profusely thanked me for helping her on such a busy day. Since I had long calmed down, the call made me feel good. The next day, she came to my door and said; “I just wanted to give you a hug for leaving the food. No one has ever done anything like that for me.”

            For many years, until I moved, she was a good neighbor. While we didn’t always agree, we worked out any problems. And parking rules? They were followed without my saying anything.

            I realized with time that while I was justifying a decision to act on anger and rage, God was asking me to build a foundation of trust and strength.

            Thought: As I look in the rearview mirror of life, one of my greatest regrets is that I can’t go back and offer a salad and bread in place of the angry and mean words too often said. Though the past is gone, I am working on building positive foundations—it’s a work in progress.

Prayer for the Reader

Oh Lord, help me to see others through Your eyes, hear their needs through Your ears, feel their pain with Your heart, and take the appropriate actions with Your hands and feet. Show me what it means to love Your children and myself. Thank you, Lord, In Jesus name, Amen

GO FORTH AND SERVE SOME SALAD AND BREAD.

                                                                                

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Therefore, encourage one another, and build up one another--- 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NASB)               The following story was a featured archive story on the Internet and shows how these children, by not putting themselves first, brought joy to all.: Ubuntu—I Am Because We Are:             An anthropologist put a basket of fruit under a tree and told the children the first to reach the tree could have the basket. The signal was given, but there was no race. The children joined hands and walked to the tree together. When he asked why they did that when one of them could have had all of the contents their answer, in somewhat disbelief to the question, was How can we be happy, when the rest are miserable. Tew, R. (2015, June 3).  Ubuntu story . Live Life Happy.  https://livelifehappy.com/ stories/an-anthropologist- proposed-a-game-to-the-kids- in...
Read more
Image
  The Power of a Small Gesture     John 6:1-16 is the story of the feeding of the 5000. With a boy’s gift of five barley loaves and two fish, and the blessing of Jesus, 5000 people ate with food left over. Jesus therefore took the loaves and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated, likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. And when they were filled, He said to His disciples, Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost. And so they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten. (New American Standard Bible)               Anne Sullivan known as the Miracle Worker who worked wonders with Helen Keller experienced poverty and cruelty as a child. The writings from the Helen Keller Society talk about two defining experiences in this extraordinary woman’s life. At eight years of age,...
Read more
Image
  When Shouts of Ho, Ho, Ho and Merry Christmas Make You Feel Sad   Have the well wishes of the holidays, the music, and twinkling lights ever made you want to close your eyes and hold your ears? It’s easier, and more socially acceptable to paste a smile on your face while wishing for a sabbatical from life with the ability to return when the holidays are over. I’m not being cynical or sacrilegious, but the reality is that problems can make this time of year difficult. What to do? First, I urge those whose hearts are hurting to realize you’re not alone and to be kind to yourself.             We may need our own space and a break:   Years ago, I was asked to play for a wedding for a couple I had never met. All I knew was that the mother of the bride was flying in and the father was attending with his wife. The night of the rehearsal, the bride’s mother hung out with me. My suspicion was she used this time and spa...
Read more