We’ve all met them. Someone somewhere in your life probably fits the title of “perfect person.”
There is one such person where I live. He is always serving, always kind, always funny, always says the right words, never ashamed of God, always the first one to greet the new people, to talk to the foreigners or the sad or the lonely. And…it honestly makes me want to explode something in his face.
Unrighteous, I know. I should rejoice that people like that exist! Instead, I want them to stop existing. I want never to have met them, and this is because perfect people like this make me feel worthless.
Even scrolling down Facebook I see the people who make me feel worthless, people who are far better than me and there’s no point even arguing that.
But yesterday encouragement came through an unlikely outing.
My family–every last one of us–were driven from the house due to a mold problem. We were away all day, and that should have depressed me, because it is very frustrating to think of piles of chores at home, waiting to be done–but instead I got some unexpected opportunities.
First we went to Starbucks. I instantly was reminded of my pledge to myself and it hung on me the whole time.
I told my mother.
“Why don’t you ask now?” she nudged me forward.
So I said: “Oh, is there anything I can pray for you about?”
The cashier looked up, seeming surprised. And then she said: “Well, a few minutes ago in fact, I just got into work–and someone had called and said that I was rude!”
“Ohhh no!”
“That was a discouraging start,” she said drily. “So if you could pray for encouragement…”
And I did. I prayed two people would call and compliment her on her great friendliness, which she indeed had a lot of. I couldn’t shake the feeling of joy that followed me.
At Lowes, where my Dad and I went to get an air filter, it is usually my custom to make faces in front of the security cameras at the checkout. When I did that, something unusual happened.
One of the cashiers there laughed. “That made my day!”
“Thanks!” I said.
Lastly, we went to Walmart. I saw a homeless woman there. I had no food, no money, nothing to give. But I smiled and waved. And she smiled back–looking much happier than she had before. I prayed right then and there that she would have a job and a family and salvation.
All in all, those three instances made for a day where I really felt joy. In my diary, I resolved my conflict about the “perfect people”.
…Maybe all those perfect people aren’t really any better than me.
Maybe one person’s just really good at talking to new people, and I serve God through prayer?
I don’t know, but the way God encouraged me today by showing me
…I could share His love…
…with others–made me feel so much better and happier and trusting…
thoughts of a wanderer 