I'm going to date myself here, but when I was little, we had records with books. You read the book while the record played. One of my favourite stories that we had on record was a story about a cobbler who had received a letter from Jesus telling him that He was coming for a visit. So, the cobbler waited, and waited. I think there were three people that came into his shop while he was waiting that needed some sort of help, and each time he helped them. One of them was a little old lady who was hungry, and so he fed her the food that he was saving for Jesus.
At the end of the day, he was upset because Jesus never came for a visit, but then he was told that Jesus had come that day, just not the way the cobbler had expected. He had shown up in the three people that came to him for help.
The premise of the whole story is based on Matthew 25:40 ~ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
We ran out of milk this morning, so I took the kids and we headed to Wal-Mart. I was in a bit of a rush because I wanted to get home before Clark left for work. When I got to the van to start loading it up with kids, this person appeared out of nowhere. I`m not quite sure if it was a man or a woman, but they asked how I was doing that day, to which I replied "Fine, how are you?" They said, "Not too good, I'm homeless, tired, hungry and cold. Do you think you could spare two dollars?" I looked in my wallet, didn't have any change and told them no. So they left.
Abigail, who I thought wasn't paying attention to my conversation, piped up and asked "Mommy, is that man hungry?" I said yes and continued putting the kids and the milk into the van. But, as we were driving away, it hit me that I could have taken him (or her) back into Wal-Mart and bought them a meal. And my Abigail noticed that they were hungry, and I didn't do anything about it. How am I expecting my children to respond with compassion to people if I can't do it myself? And because of this, I failed my God today.
I know I have done that before too!! :( You can talk to the girls & let them know you recognize even now, that you should have taken that person back into Wal-Mart for something to eat, that you know you disappointed the Lord in not doing so, etc. so they know you are sorry you didn't to it, & also that we all fail God, but He forgives us. There are lessons we can teach our kids through this even if we don't handle it the right way at the time!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing it with us so we/I remember that we need to be open to the opportunities the Lord puts in our paths each day too.
Love you, my friend. You are a great mom. :)
The fact the your recognized that is huge. Don't be so hard on yourself. You looked to see if you could help where some people wouldn't have even opened their wallets. Not only that but not every child would think about someone else and that shows what type of parent you are too. Thanks for the reminder that God shows himself in ways that we don't expect
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