Good Morning Everyone,
Recently a friend shared this inspirational story with
my yahoo group. It touched me deeply, let me tell you why.
I hope if you do not read anything else I send this week,
you will take a moment to read this inspiration and story.
This weekend, I was able to get out for
and go to one of my favorite stores, just to look around
for a while, and get out of the house. While I was there
an elderly man came up to me, and sized me up for a minute
and decided I would listen if he talked. So I did. He needed
to tell someone about the special watch he had on, and
how the watches they make now were not as well made,
and how thankful he was for his watch. Then he left,
satisfied to have told someone the story.
I ran into another lady there about his age, and we were
talking about comfy shoes, and she was sharing with me
about how both of her feet had been broken. She didn't complain, she just needed someone to listen. She had
such a sweet spirit, and I was glad to spend a minute
or two talking to her about life. Sending her off with a
blessing and some kind words for the day.
It reminded me of years ago, when I was caring for
my Dad who was in the last stages of Alzheimer's. He
was constantly trying to run away to get to a mall that
he loved. Even though we hired someone to take him
there for an hour or two everyday, he would get home,
forget he had been there and want to leave again, and
it was hard to keep him here. One day, I was so tired
I fell asleep for a nap, while he was laying down. When
I woke up he was gone. I drove the streets for a long time
looking for him, and he was no where in sight. You can
imagine my panic. Eventually we called the police.
They drove all over the city looking for him. And they
came to my home every few hours to report to me,
they couldn't have been more thoughtful. We made
flyers up and passed them around, but no one called,
and my precious Dad was no where to be found.
Three days later, I got a call from the La Habra police
department, they had found a man who fit Dad's
description, and so we quickly drove out to the
police station. Yes, it was my Dad, he was so
dirty, and disheveled, and hungry and thirsty.
He didn't even know who I was, as I ran to hug
him, it just broke my heart to see him in this state.
The police couldn't have been more compassionate,
and I will always be thankful for that.
We took Dad to the hospital to be checked,
he was so very dehydrated, and really smelled badly.
When he became a little more coherent, he said
no one would give him water. He had stopped many
places and asked for a cup of cold water, and no one
would give him one, for three days!
Can you imagine this?
My friends, this is the cold world we live in,
where people walk by us without caring, or even
offering a smile. Where there are hungry children
each day who go to bed without food, while others
are out shopping and getting into massive debt
only thinking of themselves.
All this should be a testimony to us. To pay
attention to the needs of others, and not get in
such financial bondage that we cannot share what
we have with those in need. Is this not what Jesus taught?
How hard it is to take time to listen to someone who needs
to share what is in their heart that day? How hard is it
to fix a meal once in a while for someone you know who
has a hard time fixing it for themselves? How hard could
it be to find kind things to say to someone each day?
How hard can it be to stop spending our money on
ourselves, and get out of debt, and start looking for ways
to bless others?
This lesson is being pounded in my own heart. I think
God wanted me to write this for a reason.
If you cannot read this and feel compassion,
if you cannot read this and feel convicted,
there is something truthfully being neglected in
our spiritual lives. Each day we should take account
of our shortcomings and flaws, and work on changing them.
We have to get busy and work for our Father God.
Share what you have with others, and love them
fervently, and pray for the needs. These are from
the heart of God, and only his servants remember to do it.
Love,
millie
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What If No One Cared About You?
Of all the sufferings in the world, I've always thought that loneliness must
be one of the most brutal. We spring from the womb craving human love and
contact. Giving and receiving love is the emotional staple of our existence. To be deprived of it, especially later in life, is an unimaginable grief.
Pity, then, Vincenzo Ricardo, of Hampton Bays, New York, who was found dead in his home this week. A neighbor had called the police to complain about a busted water pipe at the Ricardo house. When police entered, they found Vincenzo dead, sitting in a chair in front of a blaring television. After an autopsy, it was determined that he had been dead for over one year. In all that time, no one had expressed any interest or made any inquiries. Imagine that. A person so alone in the world that he could be dead for a year, and no one noticed. The only possible grace is that the year he spent dead was likely less tortuous than some of the years he spent alive.
In one of his talks, Gil Bailie says that sin is punishment in its early
stages, and that punishment is just sin in its latter stages. I know there are
people who choose to push others away, to erect barriers to love that leave them bereft and bitter in the autumn of their lives. But there are others,
especially older people, who are simply forgotten. It is not their sin that
leads to such suffering it's ours. Nearly thirty years ago, I worked as an orderly in a nursing home. There was one woman who got up every morning, put on her finest Sunday clothes, and rolled her suitcase to the front lobby to wait for her son. She would tell everyone who passed that her he was coming to take her home that very day. At noon, the staff would fetch her for lunch, careful to leave her suitcase by the door in case the son arrived. At night, the staff would persuade her that perhaps she had the days mixed up, that she must have confused this day with the next day, and so forth.
Eventually, the woman would consent to being led back to her room for dinner, evening ablutions and bed. Then, the next morning, the whole
thing would start again.
Here's the sad kicker: The son never came. Never. Not even a visit.
The loneliness this woman felt had made her delusional. It had
driven her mad. And it was the fault of her very real son, who simply
abandoned her. To this day, it remains one of the saddest things
I've ever witnessed.
Reading about Vincenzo Ricardo, I was reminded of the
John Prine song, Hello In There:
Ya know that old trees just grow stronger, And old rivers gr ow wilder ev'ry
day. Old people just grow lonesome Waiting for someone to say, Hello in
there, hello.
So if you're walking down the street sometime And spot some hollow ancient
eyes, Please don't just pass em by and stare As if you didn't care, say,
Hello in there, hello.
Is there someone you know who could use a hello in there? Is
there someone who would appreciate a visit, a telephone call, some
expression of human love? Don't let someone you know die like Vincenzo Ricardo. Perhaps their death will be on your conscience.
(Mark Gordon)
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