Even in a gas station parking lot.
Last week, I was driving to work and kept glancing down at my gas gauge, knowing I really needed to stop. I had enough to make it to the school, and I decided I would rather wait until the drive home to stop and fill up. I just wasn't in the mood.
But, for some reason, when I started to pass the station on the street where the school is, I changed lanes really fast and pulled up to an open pump. As I was waiting for my car to fill, a young man started walking toward me. He was dressed in dirty-looking clothes, and I had a feeling I knew why he was heading my direction. Sure enough, he had a story: he and his girlfriend were living out of his car and hadn't eaten in a while. They needed money for food. I didn't have any cash on me and told him so, and he walked away with a sullen look on his face.
Honestly, I never know when to trust people who beg for money. When I was in college, there was a man I would see on a street corner often, and sometimes I would give him peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or granola bars. But I was always hesitant to give him cash. Plus, his sign said something about being hungry, so I figured it was better to give him food, anyway.
But something kept gnawing at me Wednesday morning.
Whether or not this guy was telling the truth didn't really matter, because I felt God prompting my heart: give him Wheat Thins.
I always have Wheat Thins in my car—and in my purse, of course—and I remembered that I had an unopened box in my backseat. I grabbed it and then got the attention of the young lad, who had then moved on in search of funding from other people excited about the slight decrease in fuel prices. I handed him the box and said, "Oh, here, I have some Wheat Thins."
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| Smiles will ensue |
I then got to witness a face full of glee light up with a smile that completely overshadowed his frazzled hair and unwashed clothes. He said, "We love Wheat Thins! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" And he quickly went back to his car to show his girlfriend his prized box of crackers.
My heart couldn't help but smile and become filled with hope.
We don't know everyone's stories—everyone's history or struggles or losses or hardships or needs or multitudes of other things that all contribute to who people are and why they do the things they do. And we certainly won't learn these stories about every single person we encounter, especially strangers in parking lots.
But we can learn to love.
God places people in our lives at just the right time that we need them and that they need us. Even if that young man and his girlfriend aren't as in need as he claimed they were matters not--they still deserve to receive love. A coworker was at the same gas station that morning and saw the Wheat Thins exchange take place, and it prompted him to give the couple a little something, as well. I think God brought us both to those pumps that morning specifically for these people—to show them that they are loved by Him and that they matter.
Love doesn't have to be flamboyant—in fact, it often works in simple and little ways that still manage to make beautiful smiles dance across storied faces.
It can even come in a box of tasty crackers.
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