Earlier today I went to pick up my son from work. As I drove in the parking lot I saw a girl in a wheel chair... in the middle of the road. There was a slight slope so I thought she might be stuck, but... there was no one else in sight. The thought did cross my mind "how did she get there?". I park the car and go over to her. I said "are you stuck?" She answered quite muddled "no, no, get'n a rose". I could barely understand her but I look over and there's a beautiful rose bush. I said "oh, you want a rose?". "yeah" she says "for my momma". I'm thinking, ok, where's mom? I asked her where her mom was and she said she was inside, all the while mumbling "I wanna get the rose, get the rose for my mom". I did get her to the side of the road at least but I was having trouble getting the rose. I'm sure that wasn't "right" to steal a rose from their bush but um... I wasn't thinking about that at the moment. Her mom suddenly came out and started spout'n off "I told you to stay over there, what are you doing? You were NOT supposed to move, what are you doing?" The girl calmly said multiple times "get'n a rose, I wanna get a rose for you". The mom had her hands full so she starts saying "come on get in the van, what are you doing?". I started pushing the girl back across the road (I tried and tried to pinch a rose off but I couldn't get it off... stubborn little thorny boogers). At this point her mom begins to holler "PICK UP YOUR FEET, you remember when you went fall'n on your head cause you wouldn't pick your feet up" So.... I slowed down a bit thinking "OH MY WORD she's gonna fall on her face". Oh ha, forgot one interesting tidbit, the girl had a cigarette and she was not "aware" enough to flick the ashes so they were all over here. How she wasn't burnt or on fire I have no idea. We did make it over to the van very slowly and carefully, and yes she drug her feet the whole way :) She kept saying "I was get'n rose, for you momma". All the time the mom was nowhere near interested in the fact her daughter was trying to get a rose for her. I did find out she had just had surgery, I had noticed her hospital bracelet but I didn't ask about it of course. I politely excused myself while hearing the girl say "I was get'n a rose for you".
At first it would be easy to get upset at this mom. How could she not see that her daughter was simply trying to do something nice for her? Why would she not appreciate the effort (trust me, it was an effort for her to wiggle that wheelchair to the middle of the road). The daughter's eyes were so fixed on this rose. She was determined! Then, I had to stop and think... what if I had a special needs child who just had surgery. This lady was obviously in this by herself. She was trying to get food while letting her daughter smoke (yeah... I know... all kinds of questions there but um.....) outside of the van. Regardless of the circumstances that led up to where she was, she was obviously a bit frazzled. I began to pray for her. I pray that God will meet her where she's at. That He will allow her at some point to stop and smell the roses. Maybe when things are a bit less hectic :)
On a personal level I begin to pray "God, please let me hear my boys hearts? I mean truly hear and feel them." So many times a disobedience or an "obvious" stupid decision makes me completely miss a precious moment. I love them dearly and I know they love me, sometimes their loving actions are in the midst of some messy life stuff. I want to see this love, feel this love, appreciate this love... why? Because I want them to know THEY are loved!!!!! They are precious! I don't want my need to discipline, teach, guide... er... control (ouch) get in the way of a precious God-given moment.
A reminder to always keep my eyes up - because um... that would have been totally uncool to hit a girl in a wheelchair... just say'n....
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