“Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.”
Matthew 25: 23 (NAB)
I was watching the news one day and as usual, it was full of tragedy, pain and sorrow, both locally and globally. I tend to talk to God about the really sad stories reported, and even pray for some of them. That day I asked Him, “Lord, what do you have to say about all the sadness in this world?”
Later that day, I think I received His answer. I was visiting my son at his Nursing Facility, where they started sitting him in a chair, with all the other residents, in the big community room. While sitting there, I observed a young woman who entered the room and walked around greeting all the residents, calling each one by name. She greeted some with a hug and put her arm around others, while she talked with them. Many residents in wheelchairs reached their arms out to receive her hug.
I wondered who she was, so I asked her name, and learned that it’s Monica. At first I thought, she must be a therapist, or a visiting ministry person or maybe she is just a really kind employee on staff there. To my surprise, she is not a staff person or an employee at that Nursing Facility.
Monica comes regularly to visit her own mother, who is a resident there. As I spoke with her, she pointed out her mother, who was sitting across the room. Throughout her frequent visits, she made it a point to know all the residents by name. She went on to say that her heart broke when she learned that many of them have no one to visit them.
Watching how the people light up when Monica greets them, I realized she is a true gift to everyone in that room. I started to rethink all my former expectations for Jon. Instead of hoping for him to return to his normal, pre-accident mental state, or to function again at full capacity, I now hope that he will find the same simple happiness as those residents, in knowing that he is loved by his family members who visit him.
I am not lowering my expectations, but I am raising them to a higher quality. The simplest and greatest joy in life is to be known, to feel welcomed and to be cared for, regardless of one’s mental status.
People who suffer from brain injury or who live with in an altered mental state, can still find happiness in their current condition. They may even experience a type of joy that “normal” people are missing out on. There’s no point in being healthy if not happy.
God is still doing miracles today, but sometimes He chooses to do them through small and simple blessings over long periods of time.
The all powerful God of the universe chose to reach out to this world as a tiny baby, asleep in a manger. His greatest gift came to us in a small and simple way, and the magnitude of His love was made known, by becoming one of us.
Monica brought love into that room, by giving herself, through a touch, a hug and in calling each person by name. Her presence brings joy to the lonely by becoming one of them, through small gestures of kindness, and she inspires me to do the same.
To treat strangers as one would treat their friends or family, is what Jesus asks of us, saying that whatever we do for the least among us, we are doing for Him.
It suddenly occurred to me that God had answered my question from earlier that day, when I asked Him what He has to say about all the sadness happening in the world.
God seemed to be telling me that He knows many people just like Monica, who regularly share His love and kindness with those who are lonely and neglected in this world. They do it in small and simple ways, and while there are many beautiful stories to tell, which never make into the news headlines, God knows about all of them. It reminds me of words in the first chapter of John’s gospel,
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5)
The darkness will never overcome the light, and this meditation is to thank all those who shine their light in dark places, through small and simple acts of kindness. Jesus assures us that our faithfulness in small things, not only lights up the darkness of this world, but will some day reap an eternal reward in heaven.
Lord, thank you for reminding us that the smallest gestures can bring your love to those who feel forgotten. Help us to be faithful in small matters, and to notice each stranger that you bring into our lives each day. Amen
