There is a local grocery store I go to. Every time I walk through the door, there is a young man that is a greeter. I am not sure what has happened to him, but there is a long scar running from somewhere below his shirt collar, up the side of his neck, and disappearing into his hair line behind his ear. Whatever happened, I imagine it was very traumatic.
Not only did this unknown event leave him with a scar, it must have left him with some mental challenges as well. You can quickly tell this from the way he talks, and from his very child like demeanor. The very first time I saw him standing at the door waiting to hand out grocery carts to the customers, I was shocked. Not from his appearance or the way that he talked, but what he did when he saw me.
"Jesse, Jesse! I haven't seen you in so long," he said as he ran up to me and gave me a big hug. "Where have you been? I always see you at the library but you haven't been there in a while."
Now if you know me, you know my name is Trudy. Not Jesse. And if you don't know me, the name of the blog should give it away.
Not really sure how to respond, I just hugged him back. Then I was faced with a big dilemma. Do I correct him and tell him I am not who he thinks I am, thereby embarrassing him? Is it better to just come clean with him and tell him this was a case of mistaken identity? Or do I play along knowing that in a few minutes I will be gone to do my shopping anyways? It was obvious that Jesse was not a family member of even a close friend. She was apparently just someone he ran into at the library a few times. So what was the harm?
I looked at him and my heart just seemed to break. It was not pity I was feeling, but rather compassion. I thought about how Jesus must feel when He looks at this young man. The Bible says that Jesus loves us so much that He gave His life for us. If we are to strive to be like jesus, then that means we have to show love like He does.
"No," I said. "I have not been to the library in a long time." I smiled big and talked with him for a few minutes. I could sense how happy he was to see me, even if I was not who he thought I was. Me being there, obviously just seemed to make his day. He felt good. I felt good. It was a win/win situation.
Since then, I have been back to that same store maybe a dozen times. Without fail, he is there every single time. I am not sure what the odds are of that, but I feel like God is at work in all of this. "Jesse, it is so good to see you, " he says with the biggest smile ever.
We talk. We smile. We hug. And my husband just politely steps out of the way, and let's us have our moment.
All of this has caused me to come out of my comfort zone and just love this young man like Jesus would. If I am being honest with myself, it has not been easy. But Jesus does love him. All of this time, I thought I was really good at loving people. After all, everyone tells me that I can get along with anybody. I am finding, however, that I am only just scratching the surface of understanding what love really is.
I was originally going to title this post "Faithfulness". You may be wondering how that ties into the story I just told you about. So I will attempt to explain. Since I have committed myself to this blog and my daily prayers, I have been faithful to spend more time in Bible study. It is so easy to get caught up in our daily lives, and not spend just a few minutes with God. I have been guilty of that just like everyone else. But I am finding that just a few minutes a day trying to learn more about God, is changing me. A few minutes of faithfulness in studying Him, like He instructs us to do, has seemed to have unforeseen effects in my life.
God wants us to be faithful to Him and His word. When we are faithful, and look for ways to spend time with Him, His love in us grows stronger. The more it grows in us, the more it tends to spill out of us. The more it spills out of us, the more we change the world around us. He changes us, and we change the world.
And that is why the word "Faithfulness" is what you should take away from all of this.
Here is a scripture that ties today's word -faithfulness-, with yesterday's word -integrity-.
“To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity.”
Psalms 18:25
PRAYER:
Daddy God, thank you for loving us. I thank you for showing me your love and revealing all the different words that also show your love for us. That you teach us to be faithful and have integrity. I want to live life in the fullest. That means I want to be fully faithful to you, and live with the greatest integrity just like you have. I am honored that you call me your child. I love you, Lord. I declare your healing power to invade and fill us up. So we are healed both physically and emotionally. You are an awesome Father. Amen!!!
One last thought, if those that live in my home town happen to go by the Moore Public Library, and see someone that looks a lot like me, ask them if their name is Jesse.
Be blessed,
Trudy B.
