O Thoughtless One
It’s a rare occasion that strangers ask me for money in my hometown,
but this weekend a woman stopped me as I was getting out of my car. In her ramblings of “I have food stamps, but
I haven’t had anything to eat today…standing just feet away from a store she
could get food using her EBT card…assuring me she wasn’t on drugs or “anything
like that,” I am pretty sure she wanted drug money. If I’d had a few dollars, I probably would
have given it to her. As I was
apologetically telling her I really didn’t have any cash, she looked me
straight in the eye and said, “I believe you, you have an honest face.” She walked on and asked someone else. I have thought about the lady several times
since then, a lot of “what if’s.” What
if she was really hungry? What if she
was out of food stamps (she didn’t allude to that), what if, what if, what
if? I had failed her. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized
just how much I failed her. Can you
tell me why a professing Christian did not even think of telling her about
Jesus? She came and was gone in just a
matter of seconds, but I don’t think that’s a good enough excuse to have not
said, “I can walk you over here to the store and get you some food, and let me
tell you about a Friend of mine…”
O Feckless One
“Feckless” is a word that has been forced upon us lately,
and it sums up 99% of the “comedians” these days, and about the same for
television shows. There are people who find vulgarity funny,
especially when it is aimed at others who have a different viewpoint than them,
it seems. I feel pelted with negativity
from social media. If I had any sense,
I’d give up all the feckfulness that comes across my internet. Feckfulness…I made it a word because fecklessness
just didn’t seem to cover it all.
O Blessed or
Depressed One
I am fully aware that I am immeasurably blessed and face
precious few adversities in my comfortable life, but there are days when I feel
something akin to depression trying to settle on me like a fog. There is no reason for it, no explanation as
to why. This morning is one of those
days. I don’t think it was just because
I was so feckless this weekend with the lady asking for money. Depression does not discriminate. Thankfully, ever so thankfully, the name of
Jesus chases depression away, and I have to make a conscious choice to be
careful about my thoughts, choosing gratitude over negativity. That would probably be a lot easier if I
gave up the feckless internet. Maybe
with less negativity, I’d think about telling a person in need about Jesus.
O Wet Doglike One…
I wish shaking off the fog were as easy as a wet dog shaking
off water…and it would be much funnier, watching people do that. 
It is hard to know what to do when people ask for money; I usually jump to the fact that they are wanting it for drugs or alcohol. Hubby at times will take them into a fast food restaurant if we are by one and will buy them something to eat. Some don't take him up on that offer and those are the ones I'm thinking truly are "working the system" for their gain (drugs/alcohol). But I do like your approach of thinking to take them into the store or whatever and use it as a method to talk to them about Jesus or at least offer to pray for them. A pastor I knew once said that most people will take you up on an offer to pray for them, at least he found that in his experience. I find melancholy to be something I can easily get into more than depression, though like you, I'm incredibly blessed and have no reason to be anything but joyful and content.
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