Sep
30
2016
Look Deeper
Posted in Daily Living 4 Comments
It was a rainy morning.
The cars were all waiting at the intersection.
This particular intersection has a yield sign that is usually easy go through.
However, on this rainy morning there were about seven cars waiting behind a van.
I was the third car in line.
There was a truck behind me.
It is easy to judge when you are not the one making the decision.
I could see the man in the truck behind me in my rear view mirror.
He was getting visibly annoyed.
It was 8:20 in the morning and he was probably going to work.
The van in the front of the line was not merging into traffic fast enough to suit him.
I could understand the driver’s caution; merging into traffic is difficult on wet roads.
I could see the frustration of the man behind me as he hit the steering wheel.
Finally his annoyance bubbled over into a long blast on his car horn.
Honking the horn was not going to make the van merge any quicker.
It was a busy morning and the roads were wet.
When the traffic light turned red in the other direction, all the oncoming traffic stopped.
The van could safely merge without hydroplaning.
We all were able to easily yield and get on the main road.
The main road has four lanes; the truck quickly passed all of us and got in the left lane.
I lost sight of him.
He was really in a hurry.
I thought of the frustration he was bringing into work.
I thought of the annoyance that already got his day off to a bad start.
Impatience is certainly not very becoming.
It can actually be dangerous to the person and those around them.
It is a me-first attitude.
It is a judgment on the speed with which another person is acting.
I saw that same frustration when I was in a seasonal store.
A caregiver, in health worker’s attire, was shopping with an elderly woman.
The elderly woman had a colorful cane tucked along the side of her shopping cart.
I kept running into the two of them in the store.
The elderly woman was buying lots of fall decorations and decorative pumpkins.
She spotted a display of cinnamon brooms.
She seemed to want one and was stopping to smell each of them before deciding.
The caregiver who was with her, seemed annoyed and was trying to dissuade her.
The elderly woman could not seem to make the caregiver understand.
She really wanted a cinnamon broom.
I had to pass each of them while this was going on.
Without missing a beat, a young man stepped over to the display and selected a broom.
He handed the cinnamon broom to the elderly woman.
Her face lit up.
Thank you, young man, she said kindly as she slowly put the broom into her cart.
Her caregiver said nothing.
Every time I saw them in the store, they seemed to be in a mini battle.
I felt bad for each of them.
I am sure the situation is not an easy one.
I am sure the elderly woman remembers the girl she once was years ago.
I saw them at the cash register.
A chair was pulled over so that the elderly woman could sit down.
Even from the chair, the woman was giving instructions to her caregiver.
When it was time to leave, the elderly woman had a hard time getting out of the chair.
I was two customers behind the woman and her caregiver.
When I finished and went to the automatic doors, I saw the woman sitting on a bench.
She was holding on to the shopping cart while she was waiting.
I thought perhaps her caregiver had gone to get the car.
When I got outside, I smelled cigarette smoke.
The caregiver was smoking on the sidewalk.
One woman was outside while the other was inside.
The storefront separated the two women; one waiting and one needing space.
I don’t know what kind of day the two women were having.
The caregiver was not unkind to the elderly woman in any way.
I am sure the elderly woman could be a bit difficult from time to time.
As I thought about the elderly woman on my drive home.
What is it like to know the girl you once were?
What is it like to look into a mirror and wonder who the person is staring back at you?
What is it like to remember the things you used to do that you can no longer do?
What would it be like to get behind the eyes of the elderly?
Wanda B. Goines is a 92-year-old woman.
Wanda wrote a poem and her caregiver was the first one to read it.
The caregiver was so moved that she decided to film Wanda as she recited her poem.
The caregiver posted the sweet video of Wanda.
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. (Psalm 71:18)
Wanda seemed to know that she is more than the reflection that looks back at her.
Wanda knows who she really is, and that has nothing to do with her outside appearance.
It takes time to see the heart.
It is only in finding that inner beauty, that we really know the essence of a person.
Impatience and annoyance have no place in our relationships.
Yet we are all guilty of that from time to time.
What if we considered the inner person rather the person we see on the outside?
What if we took time to know the layers down deep instead of the layer on the surface?
Wanda challenges all of us with her simple wisdom.
The gray hair, crows feet, slower steps, and duller memory may hinder us all as we age.
But down deep under all the layers is the image of God.
The image of God, our inner beauty, is eternal.
Shouldn’t that be what we focus on?
Gina, this is one of a handful of days I set aside to read later, which I did tonight. The lady who recited her poem about the inside beauty reminded me of my mother who died in 2000 just shy of her 92nd birthday. She too was beautiful on the inside. Although she had some memory problems, she could still recite poems she wrote as a young school girl. I think this one for me is a “keeper”.
God Bless,
Jeff
Jeff,
I am sure your mother, like the woman in the video, had an inner beauty that shone through. That is the only beauty that truly matters because it is the only beauty that lasts.
Gina
I remember the days when my Mom told me it was better to be pretty on the inside than on the outside. Our culture seems to see things the other way around., This sweet lady and her poem is a reminder that each of us is a jewel from God and that He sees our “present” not our “wrapping”. Thanks for sharing!
Sue,
To be stunningly beautiful is to be beautiful on the inside. We have it backwards. God cares about the inside (our heart) and we seem to care more about the outside (our appearance). Our outside beauty is fleeting. Only our inside beauty lasts.
Gina