“You glorify God when you offer each other a helping hand."
~ Galatians 6:2
Getting her morning coffee from
Starbucks was the highlight of Lilly’s day. Pulling her Lexus into the drive-thru line,
she wondered why it was a dozen cars deep. It wasn’t raining, yet everyone seemed to be
driving through today.
Coffee addicts arrived from two directions, requiring the
kind of courtesy encountered at 4-way stops.
Lilly noticed another car waiting for her turn to enter the Starbucks
line. She smiled, and gestured: “Are you
next, or am I?” Lilly was fine either
way.
The other driver was NOT.
Thinking Lilly was trying to cut in line, the other driver
gunned her Suburban, rolled down the window, and flung a barrage of expletives
that would have made a sailor blush.
Lilly’s dander went on high alert. How dare she!
Then something odd happened. She eyed the other driver again but this time
Lilly saw someone different. Someone
whose eyes were red and swollen, whose hair was pulled back in a scruffy
ponytail. She was piloting a ‘land barge’
of a Suburban, Lilly’s own car of choice when she’d had three kids at home and skippered
a carpool.
My God . . . she was looking at herself ten years ago. Same car, same ponytail, same sleep deprived frustration.
We’ve all been there.
Car battery died. Both kids have
strep throat. Dog peed on the sofa. Dry cleaning’s not ready and husband’s going
on a business trip. Sound familiar?
Lilly left her a wide berth and smiled kindly at the livid lady
only to hear a replay of the offensive refrain again.
Pulling up to the loudspeaker, Lilly said “I’ll pay for
whatever the woman in front of me ordered.
And please tell her I hope her day gets better.” She meant every word.
The angry woman idled at the pick-up window longer than
normal, chatting with the barista. She
shook her head then paid by credit card before slowly driving away. Hmmm?
“No takers, huh?” Lilly asked the barista when it was her
turn at the window.
“Nope! The barista
replied. “She couldn’t believe you
wanted to pay for her drink after all the names she just called you. She paid for yours instead, and said to
tell you she was sorry. She felt really
bad. And she wanted you to know that
she’s already having a better day!”
As Lilly drove away, she began to cry. Not because she had just been verbally abused,
but because God had answered her prayer - to see others as He sees them. And maybe a few tears of gratitude and
amazement that He always shows up with an answer at the right time.
Sweet Jesus, open my eyes. Let me see those in need of my compassion; that
I might see the hurting inside instead of their hurtful exterior. Give me the heart to be interested in their
troubles and provide for me the means to help them. Amen
