“By helping strangers, you may have helped angels, without
even knowing it." ~ Hebrews 13:2
Her decision to end her own life
after 73 years lacked emotion. She’d
experienced the gut wrenching loss of a child; the helplessness of watching her
husband suffer; the physical pain of her own ailments. Her agony was less dramatic – just the lonely
outlook that life no longer brought joy or friendship. Most of her closest friends had died;
starting new relationships was difficult at her age.
She wrote a suicide note and placed it by the nightstand. Concise and well written, Gladys didn’t want
anyone to blame themselves for not seeing it coming. No one could have seen this coming.
She decided to take one last stroll through the park to feed
the pigeons . . . her pigeons. Gladys came to the park every day with bags
of crusts. They loved her. She knew it from the bold stare in their
sparkly eyes, from the way they strutted around her. Her eyes grew moist as she wondered who would
care for them when she was gone.
A young girl approached, fascinated by the flock of pigeons surrounding
the old woman. “Good morning, M’am! she
hinted. “May I join you?”
Startled at first, Gladys recovered modestly and motioned
for the girl to join her on the park bench.
But the addition of this stranger frightened the birds away. “My name’s Abby,” she offered. “I like pigeons too. I hope they’ll come back.”
Something about this young girl impressed Gladys. She seemed angelic - kind and gentle and
patient. A single pigeon fluttered down
and waddled toward them. Then another
arrived. And still another. In a sudden rush the air filled with pigeons. Down they came from the trees, from the lawns
and from the pathways where they’d waited.
Abby sat on the sidewalk giggling as the birds engulfed her. Gladys smiled too; blessed by a living angel,
a gift to be nurtured and cherished.
A lasting kinship emerged . . . a suicide averted; all for
the love of feathery friends, and the kindness of a young stranger.
We never know what’s in another person's heart; what level
of anguish they may be experiencing. And in some cases, the pain may be so
great that living no longer seems an option to them.
Each day, every one of us, has a new opportunity to make a
huge difference in this world. If I had
one wish, it would be that tomorrow morning we’d all wake up with amnesia. We’d then see the world for the first time,
with new eyes, the way a new born baby sees it.
Everything and everyone would be a blessed opportunity for us, just the
way they are.
Lord, grant me just one more chance: to
practice the gift of kindness, to be patient when my tolerance is low; to rise
above my mere mortal existence and listen with the warmth of my heart. Please give me another day to truly
love.
