“Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”
Philippians 2:4, NLT
“Oh my goodness, how did I miss seeing her need?”
These were my words after I’d failed to recognize the need of a woman I’d encountered in a store. While reading labels to ensure that I’d get just the right hair products, I was vaguely aware of a woman who’d rolled into the aisle in a motorized wheel chair. I briefly glanced at her, smiled, and said “hello”. She appeared to be waving and was making sounds, which I took as her version of a return greeting. There was another woman standing just behind her wheel chair and I thought the two were together. After a time, I noticed that the wheel-chaired woman was still in the aisle, moving her hand and making the sounds. I glanced up again briefly, and nodded thinking; “she’s waving at me again, how friendly”! Then I returned to looking at product labels as I headed down the aisle in her direction. When I got close to her, I noticed that everyone else was gone. The woman in the wheel chair was moving her hand again, repeating the same sounds and looking intently at me. Just then I heard a voice from behind me ask, “Ma’am do you need something from that shelf? I spun around to notice a woman talking to the woman in the wheelchair. The woman in the chair motioned excitedly now and then it dawned on me! She’d been siting in the aisle all of this time trying to get an item she couldn’t reach from people she couldn’t communicate with! Save for the woman who’d finally asked her if she required assistance, we’d all missed her need! I got the item off of the shelf, put it in the woman’s bag, and apologized to her. Inside, I wanted to cry.
After she wheeled away, I asked the question that opens this Dose to the woman that saw the need. She had some good looking out!
We aren’t meant to be islands unto ourselves but a part of a whole, members of the body of Christ. When we get too preoccupied with what we’re doing, and ourselves, we can easily miss seeing the needs of others around us. We miss opportunities to allow the love of Jesus to show through us to others.
Are you seeing a need today that The Lord can use you to fulfill, or are you too focused on self, like I was that day in the store?
By grace through faith,
Rita
I’d cut through the back parking lot of a store when I noticed a woman picking food out of a trash dumpster. When she saw me looking at her, she came over and asked if I had any money I could spare so she could get something to eat. I told her that I didn’t have any cash on me but that I was willing to go into the nearby restaurant and buy her a meal. She said no. Sensing that she may not want to go in because of her appearance, I offered to bring a menu out and order a take away meal for her. “This place has a variety of good items to choose from, and it’s healthier than eating out of that dumpster”, I urged her. Again she refused. She went back to eating out of the dumpster.