Back in the days when we didn’t have to be afraid of our neighbors if we didn’t know their names, I was befriended in a way I will never forget.
My family lived in Gary, Indiana, which is located off the tip of Lake Michigan. Like Chicago, it can be a very windy place at times.
Even though I was only in the first grade, I walked to school every morning. It was only a block away from my home, and diagonally across the street at the corner. On this particular morning the wind was blowing so hard when I got to the end of the street that I was unable to walk across the corner. Every time I tried, the wind blew me to the right of where I needed to go. I stepped back on the curb and with tears flowing, I started to walk home next to the bushes that lined the yard on the corner.
The lady who lived in the house with the bushes came to the door and invited me in. She probably knew who I was because my father was the pastor of the church on the next corner, but I didn’t know who she was. But she warmed me up with a cup of hot chocolate and cookies and waited for me to stop crying. Then she held my hand and walked me to the school office where she explained to them why I was late. I was soon in class and all was right again.
I still don’t know the lady’s name, but God knows. He saw her act of kindness, and I’m sure he put an extra gem in her crown on that day.
© 2009 by Janice D. Green
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