A Small Blessing
Bonnie Bailey of Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. -Matthew 5:9
As I get older, shopping gets harder. I walk with a cane or walker and tire easily. Often when pushing the grocery cart to my car full of my groceries, it feels so exhausting to return my cart and walk back to my car. Many times as I see people walking by my car, I offer them my cart and they, having their coin ready to disconnect a cart in the corral, pass me their coin. I thank them every time, saying how helpful it is for me.
Last week I offered my cart to a gentleman, and he said he didn’t need it but would take it back for me. I passed him my cart not worried about the deposit and away it went. As I rounded my car, got in, and started my car, there was a tap on my window. The gentleman had the quarter in his hand and was returning it. I thanked him for being so kind, and we both smiled. Something wonderful happened in that moment. One of the great commandments had been lived out in loving one another as we love ourselves.
Some might say I should have told him to keep the quarter for it was just a quarter, but it wasn’t about money. It was about respect, consideration, compassion, and living out one’s principles daily even in small ways. I felt very blessed that day and with renewed hope want to be a blessing for others as well.
Prayer Phrase
“Over the years we melt into what we seek” (Joan Chittister, The Liturgical Year).
Spiritual Practice
We are in the threshold between seasons in the Christian calendar. You may have been noticing the physical transitions of the seasons wherever you live as some enter the depths of winter and others the warmth of summer. The seasons are a visible reminder that even among the most predictable rhythms and routines of our lives, change is always happening. The events of our moments, days, weeks, years form us and transform us over time. We enter each season different from when we arrived here last. This is the nature of this cyclical journey of faith. In these final days of the Christian calendar and the season of Ordinary time, there is opportunity to take a sacred pause, to notice how you arrive in this threshold. What have you been formed by this year? What has been deepening you as you’ve lived through another cycle of this life of faith?
Today’s Prayer for Peace
Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.
