As November slides into December and the Christmas season starts each year, I still feel haunted by a pair of eyes. I saw them many years ago. I had taken my children on a long trip to a mall to do our Christmas shopping. Everything seemed to be on sale with bargains on all the stuff we bought. As we left I saw we still had over $100 dollars left to save for the winter heating bills to come.
As we headed out along the side of the road right before the turn off, a woman stood. She was dressed in worn, threadbare clothes, and a dirty coat. She was holding a sign that read: “Homeless, Please Help!” The thing I noticed the most about her, though, were her eyes. She had the saddest, loneliest eyes I had ever seen. I pulled over and took out all the extra money we had saved. I handed it to my daughter and she got out of the car and gave it to the woman.
Driving home I didn’t feel proud or good or happy. I just wished I could have done more for that sad, homeless woman. I wondered too why in this world of plenty there are still so many homeless and hungry among us. All these years later I still wonder these things and I am still haunted by the woman with the sad eyes. I still pray for her and hope that she is still alive. I pray that she has found a home and knows that she is loved. And I ask God to watch over her and be with her always.
What can we do to help the homeless, hungry and hurting in this world? Perhaps we just need to follow Jesus’ commandment that we “Love one another.” Perhaps it is as simple as that. Keep loving then. Keep giving. Keep caring. Keep doing what you can with what you have. Keep helping God day by day to make this world the place it was always meant to be. Then one day everyone will feel loved. Everyone will love. And everyone’s eyes will shine with joy.
