Valued Possessions

This isn't really so much of an update as it is a thought, but I think it is important. So here we go.

The other day I was walking to the city center, and I passed a homeless person on the street. This is not unusual - from my house to the city center there are the same homeless people perched in front of the same buildings and I have grown accustomed to seeing them. They never bother people and most of them sleep throughout the day. However, one day last week.. there was a jolt in routine.

As I was walking up the sidewalk, lost in thought (as I usually am) homeless man A was rummaging through his mound of things when suddenly a glass bottle slipped from his grasp and began rolling down the sidewalk in my direction. He reached for it, but was too lathargic and the bottle too quick.

I have heard it said that our lives are defined by moments, and I cannot agree more. I also believe these moments are often influenced by impulse and instinct. Do you want to know what my first instinct was as the glass bottle rolled towards me? To keep on walking. Not my problem,don't involve me. But I quickly chided myself for such a wretched and selfish thought, over turned my instinct, and a split second later stopped the bottle with my foot, and then rolled it back towards him. He smiled at me and said "hey thanks alot, have a great day!" And that is when I saw it; the simple humanity in us all.

At first I was rather proud of myself; the good samaritin strikes again! After all, most people would have kept walking (as I nearly did). But the more I thought about it the more something began to nag at me. If Jesus had been in my shoes, is that what he would have done? Kicked the bottle back with his foot, and said "good day to you sir" and kept walking? Every part of my being tells me no.

Each homeless person has a collection of things by their post. Some have more, some have little. Broken umbrellas, pieces of cardboard, rusted tin cans.. to us, it looks like a pile of garbage. But to the homeless person, they are valued possessions that they have handpicked from somewhere to call their own.

God brought an interesting perspective to my mind with this thought; just like the "possessions" that each homeless person keeps closely guarded, we also, are possessions. To the rest of the world, some of us might look like trash, but to Jesus - we are so much more. We are not random things collected from the dust; we are his valued possessions. This perspective makes me realize that there is so much more I need to be doing. That to humanity, kicking back the bottle with a smile is maybe enough, but it is not how Jesus would treat those that belong to him. That is not enough. "Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me."

And I realized that I cannot go on living this way; to see what I do and simply keep on walking; accustomed. What exactly I am going to do now.. I do not really know - only that I have been inspired and motivated to make a change. That opportunity waits at every corner and I can either ignore it, or be proactive. All I know is that to be the hands of feet of Jesus must mean so much more. I'll keep you updated.