Anyway, the thing that has been on my mind over the last day or so is something that I read in our study this past week. It related to acts of goodness towards others. The point was essentially that our acts of goodness, kindness and generosity should come from the overflow of our life in God as opposed to being related to wanting "to do good things" for our own gratification. That's really been coming back to me over and over again in the last 24 hours.
We spent yesterday and this morning visiting my in-laws in their town about 2.5 hours drive away. We left there just before noon and halfway between two villages, we came around a bend and saw a woman standing at the side of the road beside her minivan, frantically hailing us. Of course, we stopped and quickly got out to see what was the problem. This poor woman - she was driving along at about 90 kms and somehow, the latch on her front hood came undone, the wind caught the hood and it went crashing back, hit the windshield and sent glass all over the front seat. Luckily, she was o.k. and her two children were in the second row and didn't get hit. She had a 7 month old baby and a 2 year old and no cell phone so we let her make her calls and stayed with her until the emergency services arrived to take over (which took a whole lot longer than I would have expected but that's another story). She couldn't reach her husband by phone and we offered to drive into the town in which she lives (which was on our way) to stop by her house and see if we could get him. While it threw our schedule off, it felt really good to be helping and her relief when we stopped was palpable. It just got me wondering, why did we stop? What was the payoff for us? Did we really stop out of our concern for another human being based on our faith or was it for another reason? Perhaps to get the thanks? Maybe to hopefully ensure that there would be people out there to stop for us? I can't honestly say that I truly know the answer to that question but it is something that I want to ponder this week. How can I make my actions towards others the outflowing of my relationship with God and not just the means to my own gratification?
One other thing, totally unrelated. I have had a really, really hard week and was feeling incredibly down and stumbled across a verse that brought me to tears. All I could think of are those incredibly close moments when Pk is in my arms and upset about something and I hold her tight -
As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you.
Isaiah 66:13 NIV
I hope this verse can bring you comfort in a moment of struggle and fear, as well.
I know that it meant the world to that woman that you stopped to help her. This story reminds me of a book, Same Kind of Different As Me. I just read it and it's one of the BEST books I've read. You would love it, I'm sure!!! Try to get a copy!!!
ReplyDeleteLove the verse! I want to write it down and put it on my fridge (and read it when Grace has a rough night!)
ReplyDeleteYour post is a great reminder for me. I get so focused on my own agenda that I don't always take the opportunities God gives me to be Christ to someone.