A Glimpse of Courage

Thank you so much for all of your sweet comments on the wedding story. I'm glad you enjoyed sharing our event of last weekend with us... both the good, the bad, and the beautiful!




Sometimes, God whispers to us in the most unusual ways. Sometimes, He uses strangers that may never even know in this life just all the ways that they are His instruments.

My girls each have ballet this term...each on different days, with my youngest one's class actually being ballet\tap.

We parents are banned from the class, except for the first and last sessions, but we can peek through the little slitted windows on the doors to try and catch a glimpse, or hear them tap-tapping away. Whenever I try and peek in, my little one is almost never in view at that moment in time...just at the other end of the line, it seems.
I can't usually see her, but I can just imagine my little straight-haired Shirley Temple is probably dancing like a trooper, with her forward-back-forward-tap sounds blending with the the rest of the clickity-clacks.

Since I home school, my second grader tags along and we usually do some school work there. The past couple of times, we went outside to sit in the grass and enjoy the sunshine. And each time, I couldn't help but notice one particular mommy, with two young children in tow.
What struck me right away was the obvious: She held a sight-impaired cane, which she tapped ahead of her, as her two children rode their little bikes with training wheels, keeping stride with their mommy down the sidewalk in front of the recreation center.

I admit to being somewhat curious when seeing a blind or sight-impaired person, braving the outside world. More than curious....I always feel a sense of awe at their bravery.

But this was something new to me. This was more than a person braving it on their own- this was a mother. She was being more than a little courageous...
she was also being courageous for her children, as well.

I couldn't help but think how easy it would be to live in fear if I lived with her lack of sight. Especially, when I was responsible for two young children.

But here she was, venturing from her house and down the road every week, so that her children could experience real life.
And maybe, so that she could, also.

Yesterday, I watched this courageous young mother again, as my oldest daughter and I sat on the grass and she read to me quietly from a Little House book. She was reading, remarkably, a passage that mentioned how Laura felt sad for Mary, because she had been rendered blind after Scarlet Fever and could not go to school with her. As she read this part, my daughter looked over at the mother and then to me, knowingly. I wondered if the mommy had overheard.

As I stole glances at this young woman, I began to speculate that perhaps she could see shadowy images, but that her sight was so bad that she was legally blind. But beyond this practical observation, I saw quite a bit more as I watched her.

I watched her glowing smile, which seemed to never leave her face.
I listened to her warm, loving voice as she spoke to her children.
I felt the tenderness she obviously felt for them in her gestures.

And I was filled with admiration for this stranger.

I also thought about myself.
I can so easily live in fear, instead of embracing life and trusting God.
I can so easily look at the negative instead of finding something to smile about...not just smile outwardly, but to smile inside- with my heart and soul.

There were so many lessons to be learned. I am still trying to absorb them all.
But God seems to use unassuming instruments sometimes try to get through to me in His gentle way.

She is still only a stranger to me, who yesterday, simply smiled in my direction and said hello.
I have only observed her for several moments at a time.
Amazing, then, that she could have any impact or influence on me...nevertheless, she has.
I felt myself wanting to be more like her...except to be able to enjoy the physical beauty around me.
How easy for me to take this for granted!

She may never know that she is having such a positive influence on those around her. I'm not sure that I could tell her all this...my shy nature might get in the way and I'm not sure I could express it the right way in person, nor how she would take it.
But she has the kind of smile that makes me think she might be bound in the same direction as I am...and that maybe I can tell her one day in heaven how just by her simple presence, she was God's instrument in this humble stranger's life.

More food for thought: If this person whom I don't know can influence me (a Christian) so much just by her mere presense...I wonder...who am I influencing- for good or for bad- without even knowing?