Givers

Yesterday we went to a lake near our house.  It was beautiful, and we fed old bread to the fish and the ducks.  While the kids were playing at a little playground, I watched an older gentleman shuffling along.  I'm pretty sure that he had Parkinson's disease, he had the Parkinson's shuffle and the thumb bobbing that you usually see in people who suffer from this disease.  It's a terrible disease to have because it takes away your mobility and you have to put in a LOT more effort to take steps, to move, than a regular person would have to.  Eventually that loss of control goes up towards your face making it hard to swallow, and even hard to smile.

I remember taking care of an elderly woman in an assisted living center when I was in college, and when I got a smile from her, I felt like I was being given a big treat!

This gentleman that I saw by the lake, despite the difficulty in moving around had one of those pincher/grabber sticks in his hand.  He labored to walk and pick up some trash with his special stick, and then labored to walk and put it into a trash can a little ways away.  As I watched him, I thought, "there is a man with character!"  It cost him a great deal to do a very small amount of good, like cleaning up the park that he was in.  But he is a giver.  He gives to those around him, and the things that surround him.  He could very well feel sorry for himself and about his lot in life (kind of like I had been doing that day because I was so tired from not sleeping).  But no.  Instead he was giving and lifting around him.  What a man!  I thought of the story in the New Testament and about the widow giving her mite.  It was so little, but it was all that she had.

I felt like I want to be a giver like this gentleman that I saw.  Not just when I'm old, but now.  When I'm young and sleep deprived, and I feel like my brain is on screen saver all the time, and I feel like my brain my short circuit when I hear the kids screaming.  But I can still give kisses, and hugs, and reassurance, and patience when I want to lose it.  I can be a giver!  I just hope that I don't fail to keep trying.  I feel like I need divine assistance to live this way, and everytime I seek for it, I feel filled up and given what I need.

Maybe that's part of the gift of giving... when you haven't got what you need anymore, but you keep trying, love and patience and faith and kindness is given to you in abundance.  Grateful for that.