Compassion

I am not a voracious book reader, but I really was drawn into Matthew Kelly’s book, “Rediscovering Jesus.”  In the introduction, Mr. Kelly tells a story about a man and his business colleagues, in their haste to catch their taxi to the airport, accidentally upsets a blind woman’s produce cart, spilling everything.  He witnessed the woman crying, and wrestled with the choice of staying to help, which would make him most likely too late to catch his flight home.  Without much hesitation he found himself comforting the woman and putting her cart back in order.  At the end of the story, the woman, oh so innocently, asks the stranger that helped her, “Are you Jesus?”  When he replied no, she said she only asked because she had prayed for Jesus to help as her cart, carrying all her produce was falling to the ground.

Wow!  “Has anyone ever mistaken me for Jesus”, I thought?  But something happened to me after reading that story that stirred up my own image of that event.  I recalled I was sitting with a friend outside a local breakfast/lunch shop.  Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an older woman standing by herself.  She did not stand out as strange, or anything that would usually cause me to take notice.  She then apologetically approached my friend and me and asked for assistance with her umbrella.  She seemed confused and couldn’t remember, she said, how to put it back down into its nice little compact state.  It may seem pretty simple and easy to ignore, right?  Without pausing, I handed my cup of tea to my friend, taking the woman’s umbrella in my hands.  I gently explained and demonstrated how to bring the umbrella down and wrap the Velcro strap around it.  She seemed embarrassed and told us she had Alzheimer’s and just forgot how to do that, and so many other simple things. 

When I recalled Matthew Kelly’s story, I thought how easy it would have been to go about my day, ignore her and get back to my meeting or my busy day.  However, the thought never crossed either of our minds.  This woman needed a little TLC and compassion.   Don’t all of us need a little compassion in our lives, whether from a friend, family member or a stranger that arrives unexpected?  That small act of compassion that day, taking maybe five minutes, may have made a difference in her day.  In fact, it definitely made a difference in my day and beyond!

 It reminded me that it’s in the little things we do for each other every day that may prompt someone to ask you or me, “Are you Jesus?”  What act of compassion can you show in your words or actions towards someone in your life this week?    

“Therefore, as God’s chosen people . . . clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”  Colossians 3:12