I’ve been blessed in the past 2 weeks to have my heart opened even more to those around me and thought I would share my stories. The first of which was just a quick encounter.
About a week and ½ ago when going to lunch with my hubby (Chris) I notice an obvious homeless gentleman sitting on the edge of the sidewalk with his jeans down around his thighs and his underwear hanging out. I‘m ASHAMED and hate to admit but I had a moment of intolerance and to be honest what went through my mind next, was not my normal or right thinking.
Well, of course, I felt bad about his situation but I was also frustrated it seems like the homeless are everywhere and you can’t go anywhere without nearly tripping over them. Let me say I do have a lot of compassion but sometimes I’m too busy to be connected to what I see and feel instead. So what was my reaction you ask well, I was a bit disgusted and looked away thinking sure your homeless but geese pull your dang pants up.
The reality of my ill thoughts came back as a slap in the face. After sitting in an air-conditioned café and having a nice lunch I got the chance to make an adjustment in my thinking.
We had just gotten back and into the car as the same gentleman attempted to walk past us. I looked up and there he was holding his pants down around his hips. And then I notice he appeared to be having trouble walking. Upon a closer inspection, I noticed he was trying to shake his pants legs down which looked weird. Then I realized what was really happening. He was shoeless. That’s right from when I first saw him sitting on the sidewalk and now trying to walk on the side wall all he was doing was trying to protect his feet from the heat of the ground. The outside temps that day were over 115 degrees so can you only imagine how the road and sidewalks were? All he was doing with his jeans was trying to keep his feet from burning.
Without even realizing what I was doing I jumped out of the car startling him and asked if he needed some shoes? Well, the answer was a resounding yes mam. So I whipped off my size 11 sandals and asked if he wanted mine. He took them with great hesitation and was overjoyed to discover that they actually fit and beamed ear to ear thanking me. He pulled up his pants and was on his way. I quickly jumped back into the car to make a quick retreat for my burning feet and vowed to try to be better about making judgments.
This encounter opened my heart to taking my a bigger step after meeting Lawrence only a few short days later more to come about him……
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