“Let God lead you and He’ll clear the road for you to
follow." ~ Proverbs 3:6
Zoey rushed down Michigan Avenue early
that morning to catch a train to O’Hare when suddenly a wheel broke off her
luggage. There she stood in the middle
of the sidewalk, people busily hustling past her on their way to work, infuriated
at her bad luck.
Once again she’d cut it too close. The young saleswoman felt as hopeless as
flies in a fruit jar. As Zoey searched mightily
for anyone to blame, she spotted an old woman oddly out of place among the rush
hour crowd. She walked slowly in Zoey’s
direction, gazing in store windows and lugging a tattered suitcase beside her.
The woman was dressed in untold layers of fragmenting wool. From her appearance she'd been wandering the
street for some time. An unsteady gate
suggested there might be a personal earthquake beneath her inadequate shoes.
However she'd come to homelessness, whoever she'd been
before she fell into the sub-human class, it would destroy her eventually. Then what? Would she have a burial? Or would she slip away as unnoticed as she’d
been today?
Zoey moved toward the woman as if compelled to speak to her.
Showing her the busted wheel in her hand, she said kindly: "This wheel
broke off my luggage. Sometimes the
wheels of life fall off and leave us stranded with no place to go. But we mustn't give up. God always has a
better plan for your life but you'll never know what that is if you quit now.”
Then she added, “Would you like some coffee and something to
eat?”
The woman obliged and they sat, ate, and talked. Zoey learned quite a bit about “Edna.” She never knew her father; Mom died of
cancer. Drug addiction bred intense
self-hatred. People treating her like a
leper didn’t help matters either.
The pair chatted for a long while. Then Edna took out a crumpled-up receipt and
scribbled a short message. She handed
Zoey the note, smiled warmly and left the coffee shop.
Zoey watched the old woman disappear into the crowd before
opening the wrinkled paper. It contained
words that’ll remain with her forever: “I
wanted to kill myself today. Now I don’t
'cause of u. Thank u kin lady.”
Her broken wheel just may have saved a broken life. Going out of her way not just to purchase a
meal for someone in need, but actually sitting down with her and listening, may
have turned one woman from suicidal to hopeful.
All over a bagel and coffee.
So unexpected! But not to a
loving God who places opportunities before us daily, teaches us how to
recognize them, and gives us the encouragement to step forward in faith.
Show me Your ways, Lord; how You would walk in
these places. Teach me Your paths of
grace and mercy and integrity and love.
Help me to grasp Your ways so I can walk securely in them even in
insecure places. I need Your perspective
today. Amen
