I think Jesus looked at me the other day.
I am writing this to that person who looked like Jesus and I hope that she reads this article. Her presence in my life, for a brief moment, was my best Christmas present.
It was the week after Christmas and — as I do nearly every morning — I was out early for my two-to-three mile brisk walk.
This day I walked out West Main Street and back. If anyone has read one of my books, they know that I always look down while I walk because I have only one good eye and that makes for poor depth perception. Unless I pay attention, I may mistake a step up or down for a crack in the sidewalk or the pavement.
Years ago, I learned that walking with my eyes down results in finding many pennies on the ground. I started to pick up those pennies and use it as an occasion to thank God for the gift of the penny, with a prayer I developed.
Each time I would find a penny, I would say, “Thank you, dear God, for the gift of this penny. It is a free gift from you, just like everything I have and am. May I use this penny, along with all that you have given me so generously, to know and do your will.”
Turning the finding of a penny into an opportunity to offer a prayer of gratitude has become part of my daily walk.
On that particular day in the week after Christmas, it was bitter cold — about 20 degrees — and the wind was strong, gusts more than 20 miles per hour.
I was cutting across Ballou Park parking lot and coming around behind McDonalds. My eyes were full of tears from the effects of the strong and cold wind when, there before me in the parking lot, I spied a penny.
I bent over and picked it up and said my prayer of gratitude to God. Then I took off my gloves to wipe the tears from my eyes before continuing my walk out West Main. And that was when she came up to me.
She was driving a white SUV or van, and she rolled down the window and spoke to me. “Are you alright?” she asked. It took me a moment to focus due to the tears in my eyes. And even before I saw her, I said I was fine, just that I had something in my eye from the cold wind. I thought she was concerned about the wiping away of my tears.
But she said it again, “Are you alright?” That was when I saw her and hand was extended out the window toward me. She was offering me a five-dollar bill. I had thought she was concerned about my tears, but she thought otherwise.
She saw me pick up the penny and she thought I was very poor and needy. (Granted, I don’t dress too well when I go out for my cold morning walks.) I was embarrassed and repeated that I was ok, just had something in my eye. It still did not register to me what she was doing.
But then I looked right at her, and she looked so kind, and spoke to me with such sensitivity so as not to make me feel bad or lowly. She spoke to someone she thought was in great need, and she did so with gentleness and respect.
Jesus treated people that way — especially those who were poor and outcast from society. As I walked away from her, I said another prayer of gratitude to God, not for the penny but for the gift of love that exists in our world still.
I hope she reads this.
She was, despite my initial embarrassment, the best Christmas present I could ever have received. I know with greater certainty that the Savior whose birth we had just celebrated is still here with us, in us, and is bringing his kingdom to its fullness through people like this lady who made it clear that Jesus’ words are true: And behold, I am with you always until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20b).
She gave without counting the cost. She gave because she saw a need. It was the end of the calendar year and it is a time when many people give to charity.
Perhaps there are some whose giving is motivated my tax advantages. But this lady gave out of love, a love that Christ Jesus taught us. If your end-of-year giving was done for tax purposes, consider this dear lady who looked like Jesus to me, and try giving without asking for a receipt for your taxes.
You may just inspire others to pray in gratitude to God; you may help others to have a greater faith in the reality that Christ’s kingdom is coming into its fullness in the world today.
Know what is so amazing? I think that dear lady thought she saw Jesus too? And the king will say to them in reply, Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me (Matthew 25:40).
Breindel is the pastor of Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
INSIGHT: The greatest gift of all
