I Know it When I See it

On Sunday my family and I were heading to Verizon to get my phone repaired.  While at a stop sign, I looked up and saw a man with a sign that read, "I am a veteran and I do NOT drink.  Please help me eat."  I rushed my daughter to get $5 from my purse and we called him to the car.  He accepted the money and began to explain he was a veteran and not a drinker.  I explained that he owed me no explanations and then I thanked him.  He kept waving at us and as we were pulling off we watched him dry his face.  I failed to mention that I was crying before he had ever reached our car.  The sadness in his face overwhelmed my heart.  I cry at the site of any beings hurting often, but this was different.  Something about this man struck me in a more powerful way. 

As we drove to Verizon we discussed this man.  I was angry that no one else would stop to offer him just one dollar or a few kind words and then my daughter said something that made me come completely unhinged.  She said, "They are ignoring him and are only thinking of themselves, but what if that's God?"  Her question swam in my mind all day and the face of this man has not left my memory yet.  Shouldn't we approach one another like that on a daily basis? Shouldn't we speak and react as if the other being could possibly be God?  I have many definitions for compassion and I may not be able to describe it clearly, but I know it when I see it.  There have been many years where I thought I knew the true concept to love and although we cannot fully comprehend the depth of love...I know it when I see it.

I saw it in that mans face.  I saw it in the face of my fifteen-year-old daughter as she tried to console her mama.  I saw it in my eyes as I took a glance of myself in the rear-view mirror before getting out of the car.  Most importantly I see it in the words of a Lord who laid His life down, so that we may become children of the Most High God. Some people choose to ignore the homeless, the less fortunate.  They think, "it's not my problem."  But, it is ALL of our problem.  He commands us to love one another as He
loves us, so yes...it IS YOUR problem as well as MINE.  I don't know how to describe the changes that are taking place within me since that Sunday.  But, I do know that it’s surrounded in love.  God’s love?  I know it when I see it.