Saturday, November 1, 2008

Who I ought to be

When Kaylie and I were going home from the car wash today, we took a short cut through the shopping center parking lot to get out to the street and head home. Our path took us behind the movie theater, where we passed a lady with 2 children and a cart of groceries. I drove past and fleetingly thought about helping her, then as I normally do, decided she probably did not need help - it was a nice day out, they probably were not walking far etc. But I did not get far before I felt convicted for being so dismissive. I made a quick reverse-rationalization (sure it was a gorgeous day, but what if she had milk or something that might spoil?), turned around, pulled up and asked if I could give her a ride somewhere.

Turns out they were waiting for their car to be repaired at the shop across the (very busy) street, so I was so glad we stopped - I wouldn't want to try to cross it with Kaylie and Hannah in tow and her two girls looked close to their ages. After we let them out, Kaylie says, "Wow, Mom, that was a really nice thing that you did helping that lady." Then she says, "When I grow up, I want to be just like you, and look out for people to help." Talk about wow. And feeling convicted. Here I wasn't even going to help, and Kaylie has me up on this pedestal of which I am totally unworthy. And how proud am I that my kid wants to grow up to be someone who helps others. And, yikes, our kids watch everything we do and, good or bad, pattern their behavior after it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

WOW! Glad you wrote that one down!!!