Recently my Mom told me she had added a new friend to her Facebook list, Rodney, a guy she’d known since elementary school. He emailed her and told her he remembered her and their time in school together. He also shared a memory he had of her. He said in an email (which he gave me permission to use), “I remember I had a Birthday party when I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade. I remember inviting the entire class, but only you and Clenard from school came. I was so devastated. That I cried like a baby. It was my first birthday party as a kid. I remember you gave me a book of life savers candies. That is a very special memory that I will never forget. Thanks!!!!”
I remember when I was growing up my Mom told me about Rodney. Whenever we looked at pictures she would point him out and tell me about going to his birthday party. She remembered that she was the only white person there and she didn’t know why others from her class hadn’t come. She remembered Rodney’s mother walking to the car and hugging her mother, thanking her for letting Mom come to the party. It was something from her childhood that stuck out in her mind, but she never knew that it had been a special memory in Rodney’s mind as well.
As I think of this story and my Mom finding out years later that Rodney remembers her coming to his birthday party, I’m reminded that each day we never know the lives we are touching. Something we do may help someone else, and they will remember it for the rest of their life.
In Matthew 25:34-40 we read:
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
What you do or say may feel insignificant in your mind at the time. Maybe it’s just something you do naturally. Maybe you think no one notices what you do. It doesn’t matter who it’s for … whether a classmate, your sister, the homeless man at the corner, the cashier at the grocery store, your co-worker, the president of your company … Jesus is watching and is pleased when we give to others and show His love. We’re really doing it for Him. —Bethany P.
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