That was the question of the day yesterday.
Yesterday, Lizzy & I went out to do my Christmas shopping. It was cold and rainy but I am without a car again and she had the day off so off we went. I need to back up a bit and tell you that there was not going to be any Christmas shopping in our house this year. I don't want your sympathy, but since I have been so sick things have been really tight for us. But this week I found out some of my medical bills were going to paid in full so I had some money to buy a few gifts.
Lizzy and I were out for hours to trying to find the perfect gifts that fit my budget. We got hungry and stopped for lunch at Red Robin. We ate bottomless fries and ate our lunch and were so full when we left, painfully full. We headed over to the mall and after a couple of hours there (with no luck) we headed back out in the rain to her car to try another shopping center. As we were getting in the car I looked up at the doors to the mall and saw an older man, with a light weight jacket on looking in the trash can. Lizzy thought he was looking for a bag he mistakenly dropped in the trash. But I saw what he was really doing. He was looking for food. Then it happened he found some left over food in one of the bags and put it in his mouth. My heart sunk as he did this and I told Liz I would be right back, I grabbed some cash from my wallet and headed back up to the mall. Liz realized what was going on and grabbed a few dollars from her wallet and a Cracker Barrel gift card that had just a little bit left on it.
We approached him quietly and I asked if he was hungry, he looked ashamed and put the bag back in the trash can. I took his hand and gave him the cash and the card and told him to go get something to eat and get warm. The Cracker Barrel was just down the road and he could sit in there and get warm and get fed. He looked in my eyes and said thank you. He said it with both his words and his eyes. I wished him a Merry Christmas and good luck and we left.
As we drove away I thought how blessed I am! And I also thought how petty I am. I have been so bothered by the fact that we have not had extra money to spend on fun stuff and now Christmas presents for a few months. Although we have a beautiful home that is warm and dry and we have food to eat and Gary has a good steady job. This is the first time in I don't know how long that we have had money troubles. This is the first year in our whole married life that we didn't think we would go without buying gifts. We are so blessed! This homeless man, hungry and digging in the trash in the rain reminded me what Christmas is really all about. He reminded me of how lucky and how blessed I really am! I cannot get him out of my mind. I hope and pray that he was not a "real" man but instead an angel that God sent to teach me this lesson. But if he is a "real" man, I hope he found shelter and some warm food last night. I hope he knows that he did more me than I did for him.
I hope that you will find the blessings that are in your life this season and that you will reach your hand out to help someone that seems to not be as blessed as you are. Trust me, you will not be sorry.
Here are just a couple pictures from our shopping adventure yesterday - this was our last stop at 10pm. . .
We were spent!
Merry Christmas my friends!
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