Brighten Your Day

As I turned to go down the aisle in the grocery store I spotted him... an elderly man appearing to be lost. As I walked closer I could see a sad look in his eyes. I felt an urge to say something to him. "What should I say?" I wondered to myself. "Can I help you find something?" I heard myself saying. "Thank you, I really need some help," he answered. "Tell me what you are looking for and I'll try to help you find it," I said.

"Why did you stop and talk to me? You don't work here, do you?" he asked. "Well, I could see by the look on your face that you seemed to need help," I answered. With that, he introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Albert.* This is the first time since my wife died that I've been to the grocery store. My wife always did the shopping and I'm really lost in this big store. Thank you for helping me." I leaned over and gave Albert a hug. I told him that only a few weeks earlier my son, Todd, had died in a car accident. We shared a faint smile knowing that we both had been through a tough time.

As I pondered what had happened I realized that going though this grieving time had brought something out in me that wasn't there before. My eyes seemed to be opened and I noticed other hurting people. I'm sure the year before I would have been like the other people in the store, who walked by and didn't see the hurt in this man's eyes.

In II Corinthians 1:4 it reads: "He helps us in all our troubles, so that we are able to help others who have all kinds of troubles, using the same help that we ourselves have received from God."

God had helped me though this terrible tragedy of Todd's death, and now He was enabling me to see the hurt in others and reach out to help them.