Mary, Part 2

 “And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” Matthew 25:40

Yesterday I wrote about the homeless lady, Mary, who wanders the Sacramento River trails. I felt God prodding me to go deeper with her than just a “hello” in passing. But you remember I told you that she has some mental abnormalities, and I just wasn’t sure how she would respond to me if I tried. But I knew I must try, so the next time I saw her coming towards me, I said, “Hello, how are you doing this evening?” Mary politely responded with a faint “fine” and passed by without looking at me.

“Well, at least she was polite,” I thought, relieved. But just as she got beyond me a little way, I heard her yelling, “Ok, I know! Yes I did, so get off my back!” and then made another comment which I couldn’t catch. “Oh dear,” I thought to myself, “I hope that wasn’t my fault, that I didn’t trigger some kind of psychotic response in her.” There was just no telling what was going on in Mary’s world. But God was not letting me off the hook; I knew He wanted me to go deeper still with her. I decided next time I would try to exchange a few words with her.

It just so happens that the next time I was on the river trail, I’d had a bad day and wasn’t really in the mood for conversation. “Please, Lord, I don’t want to see Mary today, ok? I’m just not in the mood.” But of course, God being God, He brought her right across my path.

“Thanks a lot, God.” As she approached, I took a deep breath. “Ok, here goes nothing,” I thought.

Nervously, I stopped right in front of her, put on a big smile, and said, “Hi, how are you?”  Surprisingly, she stopped as well, this time looking at me as we had a brief conversation.  “Hi, I’m _____________, what’s your name?” And she told me!

After exchanging a few pleasantries, I said, “Hey, could you use some groceries?” She smiled shyly and said, “Yes, I guess so.” “Ok, well I see you frequently, so I’ll bring you a bag of groceries next time. See ya!” She smiled shyly again, and turned to go. “Well,” I thought, pleasantly surprised, “that went well!” At least she didn’t cuss me out or spit in my eye like I had worried that she might.

Part 3, coming up…

Lord, I know Mary is one of Your dear little lost lambs. How You must love her to go to all this trouble for her. Help me to see her through Your eyes, and let her see Your light shine through me!