Howdy, Neighbor
Yesterday, as I drove on a twisty, curvy country road, I saw a sign telling me that roadwork was up ahead. Soon I came to a man holding a pole with a sign that told me to stop. As I approached, he turned it around to read “slow.” I crept past.
Utility workers had parked their bucket truck to my right. They worked with heavy cable at a tall pole. A young man with another pole and “slow” sign stood nearby. Beyond them, another man held a pole and sign for traffic coming in the opposite direction.
So far, I haven’t told you anything unusual, but I have told you something that I find remarkable. All of those folks were doing work that I have never done. Two of them were performing work that I don’t have the first notion of how to do. All of them did work that is essential for the people in our area to live the lifestyles we are used to — using utilities (I am embarrassed to say that I don’t know if they were from the electric company or the phone company) and driving safely on roads.
I don’t remember ever thanking someone holding up a sign on a road, but I should. Where would we be without people doing the dangerous work they do to keep us safe?
I didn’t stop to think about the positive impact of their work until I sat down to write this to you, but I knew immediately that I wanted to share my experience with you. This is why. Each of the three men who stood in or beside the road to help me be safe yesterday looked at my face and acknowledged me as I sat behind the windshield in my driver’s seat. I was not a faceless member of humanity, but a real person, someone with whom to connect, if only for a moment.
I felt grateful to live in a place where people acknowledge the presence — and therefore the worth — of anonymous strangers. I didn’t feel in those brief moments like a mere driver, but like a precious fellow human being.
I think this must be part of what Jesus meant when He promised a reward for those who give a cup of cold water in His Name.
Every day we have opportunities to make another person feel worthy. Every encounter with a child or a husband or a friend or a cashier is a chance to do a small part of what Jesus came to earth to do. One reason He came was to let us know that we are worth His coming.
Essential elements of teaching your children at home is demonstrating that they are worthy of attention, demonstrating the worth of others by the way you treat them, and teaching your children how to do the same for others.
And whoever in the name of a disciple
gives to one of these little ones
even a cup of cold water to drink,
truly I say to you,
he shall not lose his reward.”
Matthew 10:42