This is the seventh of 25 special reflections based on lessons I learned from my mother. These will run from my birthday on October 27 until her birthday on November 20.
Read
Thus says the Lord of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another…
Zechariah 7:9
Reflect
My mother was one of the most compassionate people I’ve ever known. While some people would look at a person or situation and see things through a negative lens, Mom would see the same person or situation and see things in a completely different way.
Maybe it’s because she grew up in a small town in Texas, and every person had a story that everyone else knew. There was Talbert, a gigantic fella who had a childlike spirit. I remember hearing about the day that Talbert went into the bank dressed up like a sheriff’s deputy and unknowingly foiled a bank robbery when he said, “Stick ’em up!”
Then there was a little old man who went fishing every day. He didn’t go fishing at a pond or a lake. Instead, he went fishing on the square in Carthage – in a bucket. Of course, he never caught anything. But everyone just got accustomed to seeing him there with his cane pole and bucket.
And there was Willie. Willie was wild looking and he smelled awful. The last time I saw him was in a movie theater seated in between a couple of women. I don’t know where he met them or why they were with him, but Willie was laughing and having the time of his life at that movie. He always seemed wild to me – I remember Him as Crazy Willie, but Mom never called him that.
Whenever Mom saw someone like that, she reminded us, “That’s somebody’s baby.” She wanted us to remember that everyone – no matter how dirty, crazy or wild they looked – had a mother or father that loved them (at least at one point in their life), and that they were still loved by the Lord.
We might not all feel like digging into our pockets to pull out money when we see the homeless. But when we see people who look rough, we need to keep in mind that “they’re somebody’s baby,” and that they’re at the very least God’s babies. Even the “least of these” deserve the love of Christ and compassion from those who serve the Lord who made us all.
Reflection copyright © 2024 Doug DeBolt.
