Bless and be Blessed

This morning, I made my usual trek to the post office to ship my latest orders. I was later than normal this morning, but it's true what they say, God puts His children in certain places at specific times for very explicit reasons. I walked into the post office with my arms loaded with four packages. I noticed that no one was behind the desk, and there were several people in line ahead of me... and more trickling in behind me. My Irish, redheaded temper started to creep up on me when I noticed something a little out of the ordinary.

At the middle counter, where people stand to fill out packaging labels and so forth, stood a woman. At first glance, it was obvious that she had lived a tough life. Her clothes were filthy and worn, her hair was matted and caked with grease, and her face looked worn down and tired. She was staring at a change of address form... not moving. She looked up and our eyes met. I looked into her beautiful blue eyes and saw kindness... purity... and a twinge of saddness.

She came up to me, out of all the other people in there, and said, "Can you tell me how to spell Frederick?" At first, I gagged on the awful stench that permeated her every being, but then I walked with her to the counter and started to spell F-R-E-D. When "D" crossed my lips, I noticed she was not keeping up. Each letter was painfully, carefully printed onto the form with the penmanship of a child. I slowed down and watched to make sure she had every letter down. It was then that I realized she didn't have ANY of the form filled out.

I realized that she could not read.

At this point, I set my four packages down and started at the top of the form. I showed her where the date went, pointed out where she needed to write her name, and walked her through each of the questions she needed to answer. While doing this, the line backed up even more. I turned to those behind me and told them to go on. I wasn't going to leave this lady to fend for herself. It took us ten minutes to fill out this tiny form. The human in me wanted to grab the pen and fill it out for her to get it done more quickly, but it was evident that this was something that meant a lot to her.

When we reached the end of the form, I learned that her name was Gloria. How fitting.

She looked up at me with misty eyes and thanked me for my help. She encouraged me to go ahead of her in line (at this point the post office was empty), but I needed a moment to regain composure before talking to anyone.

She handed her form to the lady at the desk... and I could not believe my eyes or ears. The worker took the form from her, scribbled something down, and said "You used to live at NORTH Frederick." No please, no thank you, nothing. FURTHERMORE, this lady knew all of the information necessary the WHOLE time I was working with Gloria. Gloria hung her head, said thank you, and left the post office.

I was told it was my turn. I put my packages down, and the worker rambled off all of the information she needed and then said "Thank you for taking the time to help her." I wanted to spout of something unkind, but I simply smiled and assured her that it was nothing and I was glad to do it. Before I even got these words out, she was turned to her co-worker laughing at Gloria's expense.

Since when has society become so calloused that they miss an opportunity to love? As I left, I thanked God for putting me in the right place at the right time. I also thanked Him for showing me that I needed to be willing to take the time necessary to help Gloria. Silent witnesses... showing Christ's love through kindess, speaks far greater volumes than door-to-door witnessing ever could. I am so thankful that I followed God's lead on this one.

Bless and be blessed.

Today, my life has been greatly, wonderfully blessed by an angel in disguise.

Gloria.