Post by nolatari on Mar 10, 2004 10:44:53 GMT -5
This Stiry was once send to me by a friend, and it really is something to think about I believe.
"Our house was directly acros the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.
One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. 'Why, he's hardly taller then my eight-year-old,' I thought as I stared at the stooped, shrivelled body. But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw.
Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, 'Good evening. I've come to see if you have a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'til morning.'
He told mehe'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no succes, no one seemed to have a room. 'I guess it's my face... I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments...'
For a moment I hesitated, but his next words covinced me:'I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.'
I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man to join us. 'No thank you. I have plenty.' And he held up a brown paper bag.
When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heartcrowded in that tiny body. He tolde me that he fished for a living to suport his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.
He didn't tell it by the way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was a preface with a thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied hois disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving the strength to keep going.
At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up early in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch.
He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, 'Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won;t put you down a but. I can sleep fine in a chair.' HE paused a moment and then added, 'Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my facem but children don't seem to mind.' I told him he was welcome to come again.
And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning.
As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had chucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.
In years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.
Other times we recieve packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh yous spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.
When I recieved these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning.
'Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!'
Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness' would have been easier to bear.
I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.
Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden Chrysanthemum, bursting with bloomd. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, 'If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!'
My friend changed my mind. 'I ran short of pots,'she explained, 'and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting in this old pail. It's just for al little while, till I can put it out in the garden.'
She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imaginingjust such a scene in heaven. 'Here is an especially beautiful one,' God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman, 'He won't mind starting in this small body.'
All this happened long ago - - and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7b)
Friends are very special. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear and they share a word of praise. Show your friends how much you care... Pass this on, and brighten someone's day.
Nothing will happen if you do not pass it along. The only thing that will happen happen if you DO pass it on, is that someone might smile (because of you). Make someone smile today! (:-) "
I though a lot about this story and I like it very much.
I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Nolatari
"Our house was directly acros the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.
One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful looking man. 'Why, he's hardly taller then my eight-year-old,' I thought as I stared at the stooped, shrivelled body. But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw.
Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, 'Good evening. I've come to see if you have a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'til morning.'
He told mehe'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no succes, no one seemed to have a room. 'I guess it's my face... I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments...'
For a moment I hesitated, but his next words covinced me:'I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning.'
I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man to join us. 'No thank you. I have plenty.' And he held up a brown paper bag.
When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him a few minutes. It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an oversized heartcrowded in that tiny body. He tolde me that he fished for a living to suport his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.
He didn't tell it by the way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence was a preface with a thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied hois disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving the strength to keep going.
At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up early in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch.
He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, 'Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won;t put you down a but. I can sleep fine in a chair.' HE paused a moment and then added, 'Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my facem but children don't seem to mind.' I told him he was welcome to come again.
And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning.
As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had chucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.
In years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.
Other times we recieve packages in the mail, always by special delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh yous spinach or kale, every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.
When I recieved these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning.
'Did you keep that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people!'
Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness' would have been easier to bear.
I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.
Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden Chrysanthemum, bursting with bloomd. But to my great surprise, it was growing in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, 'If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!'
My friend changed my mind. 'I ran short of pots,'she explained, 'and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting in this old pail. It's just for al little while, till I can put it out in the garden.'
She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imaginingjust such a scene in heaven. 'Here is an especially beautiful one,' God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman, 'He won't mind starting in this small body.'
All this happened long ago - - and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand.
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7b)
Friends are very special. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear and they share a word of praise. Show your friends how much you care... Pass this on, and brighten someone's day.
Nothing will happen if you do not pass it along. The only thing that will happen happen if you DO pass it on, is that someone might smile (because of you). Make someone smile today! (:-) "
I though a lot about this story and I like it very much.
I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Nolatari