Surprised! That was the feeling Chase had after a long day of delayed travel. A rain delay in Atlanta (imagine that :) had caused Chase to miss a connecting flight to Boston. When he finally arrived in Boston, his luggage did not. Chase's luggage decided to party with another piece of samsonite luggage headed for sunny Key West, Florida- woo hoo. So, after standing in line for 30 minutes to file a lost luggage claim with the personality-free gate agent, Chase was finally settling into his seat on a crowded Amtrak train headed to Providence.
All Chase wanted to do was sit in silence and lament over his horrible, no good, day. His pity party had just begun when the surprise occurred. Sitting next to Chase on the train was an elderly lady with a personality the size of Texas named Ms. Mary. She took one look at Chase's sullen, tense face and decided this young gun needed a pick me up from good ole Ms. Mary. She reached out with her leathery, wrinkled hand and touched Chase's arm and said, " Gracious sweetie, don't you just love the smell of fresh coffee?" Chase did a quick sniff and noticed someone coming by serving steamy rich coffee. Ms. Mary asked if he drank coffee, and Chase nodded that he did. She smiled at the server and said, "Two coffees with extra sugar and extra cream please sweetie." Ms. Mary insisted on paying for the coffee and then began a conversation with Chase that went from the where are you from all the way to how important it is to notice the little things in life, ......like the smell of fresh coffee.
When the train pulled into Providence station, Chase had enjoyed the conversation and coffee with Ms. Mary so much that all of a sudden, his terrible, horrible bad day wasn't going to be remembered that way. No, this day would be remembered for Ms. Mary and a great conversation over coffee and for Chase that was a very pleasant surprise. Ms. Mary's kind and encouraging words got in the way of Chase's bad day.
In our lives today, the terrible, no good days are always ready to happen. Bad news from the doctor, car breaking down, drug issues in the family are just a a few of the bad days that we have in our lives. Psalm 19:14 says, "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." So, the next time you see someone having one of these days, think of Ms. Mary and let your words remind that person of a simple joy of life. Let your words get in their way of their horrible, no good day.
God Bless!
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Friday, January 11, 2013
Why Not Me?
Has something ever happened to you and you said to yourself, "Why Me?" As any cancer survivor would tell you, those two little words are quick to the forethoughts whenever the doctor delivers the crushing news that you have cancer. When I was diagnosed in 2004, I even bought a book about cancer entitled, "Why Me," in hopes of gleaning some sliver of a logical explanation as to why my busy life was interrupted at the young age of 33 years old.
This past November at our Christ Over Cancer, Day of Hope event, a fellow survivor put an entirely different spin on those two little words for me simply by adding one small three letter word between them. In his humble and loving speech to an audience that had in some way been touched by cancer, my friend, Ron declared to the group.... WHY NOT ME? Ron, who had endured a chemotherapy treatment earlier that day, said those three words, Why Not Me, occurred to him when he saw a young mother taking care of her very small children. Ron thought to himself, would I rather she, with her small children, have cancer than myself who has already experienced many of life's wonderful moments? Ron realized there were countless other people who were in different points of their lives where a cancer diagnosis would not only affect that person, but would alter the course of several other people's lives in a negative way. It was that day, that Ron decided to choose to say " Why Not Me," instead of "Why Me."
Our society today, unfortunately, is geared towards self satisfaction and gratification. Looking out for our fellow man before ourselves these days is just not the norm. Those who do look out for others first, stand above the crowd and I am certain get a big smile from Jesus. It was Jesus who told us in Mark 12:29-31:
The most important one,”answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.”
So, the next time the evil one causes your thoughts to go towards the two words, "Why Me," think of the commands of Jesus and think of a courageous cancer survivor named Ron who decided to say, "Why Not Me?" Choose to love others greater than yourself.
God Bless
This past November at our Christ Over Cancer, Day of Hope event, a fellow survivor put an entirely different spin on those two little words for me simply by adding one small three letter word between them. In his humble and loving speech to an audience that had in some way been touched by cancer, my friend, Ron declared to the group.... WHY NOT ME? Ron, who had endured a chemotherapy treatment earlier that day, said those three words, Why Not Me, occurred to him when he saw a young mother taking care of her very small children. Ron thought to himself, would I rather she, with her small children, have cancer than myself who has already experienced many of life's wonderful moments? Ron realized there were countless other people who were in different points of their lives where a cancer diagnosis would not only affect that person, but would alter the course of several other people's lives in a negative way. It was that day, that Ron decided to choose to say " Why Not Me," instead of "Why Me."
Our society today, unfortunately, is geared towards self satisfaction and gratification. Looking out for our fellow man before ourselves these days is just not the norm. Those who do look out for others first, stand above the crowd and I am certain get a big smile from Jesus. It was Jesus who told us in Mark 12:29-31:
The most important one,”answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.”
So, the next time the evil one causes your thoughts to go towards the two words, "Why Me," think of the commands of Jesus and think of a courageous cancer survivor named Ron who decided to say, "Why Not Me?" Choose to love others greater than yourself.
God Bless
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)