Unlike My Savior

We were waiting in line for ice cream when a family began ordering beside us.  There were six children who were all very close in age.  It seemed as though it was hard for them to make ends meet.  The father was very quiet, didn’t say much as he stood back and watched over his family.  The mother was loud as she kept all six of the young children close by.  The kids were thrilled to be getting ice cream and could hardly wait.  As each order would come to the window, they would all run toward it, thinking it was theirs.  The mother would call them back.  This happened multiple times.  One of the older, quieter girls called her dad to the window to show him a newspaper clipping of a huge fish.  It was a sweet moment as she excitedly showed him what she had found.  I wondered what school was like for her, if she got overlooked or left out.
One small chocolate cone and one small orange twist cone, each with a smiley face, came to the window.  Again the children ran up, cheering for the ice cream that they thought was their own.  I walked up with our kids and got their ice cream cones.  We stood back while we waited for mine and Randy’s.  The six children formed a half moon around us as they stared like vultures at Peyton and Jayden’s ice cream.  I was uncomfortable as the seconds passed by like an eternity.

There I stood, my heart just being broke for these sweet children and now I was put in an awkward moment by them.  I even had on a shirt with a cross.  I literally bore the image of my Savior.

What would Jesus have done?
What did I do?  

I turned to my husband and said “the kids and I will wait in the car.”  Then I walked away.  Once seated comfortably in our vehicle, I no longer thought about it.  I watched the children walk away with their ice cream and thought nothing more.  I did the exact thing that I wondered if their classmates had done.  I looked away.

As I read my devotional the following morning, it pointed out the story in Luke 7:36-38 about the prostitute who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears as he was sitting in a Pharisee’s home.  Relaxing with the legalistic and self-righteous Pharisee’s is one place that most wouldn’t expect Jesus.  Allowing a prostitute to pour perfume on his feet as she wept doesn’t seem acceptable either.  But Christ is void of all prejudice.  This took my thoughts back to the children I walked away from the evening before.

What would Jesus have done?   I’m guessing he would have knelt down and looked at the children.  He may have asked them what flavor of ice cream each of them chose.  Maybe asked about what they enjoyed doing.  I can’t say exactly what he would have done or said but I do know one thing about my Savior - He would have never walked away.  

How often do we have an opportunity to be a light in someone’s darkness?  To show them a glimpse of a loving Savior?  How often do we miss these opportunities because of our own feelings or thoughts?  

My prayer is that as we go out into this world we may be aware of our Savior.  May we see opportunities to be Christ-like and allow his love to flow through us.  May we set aside our own feelings and courageously bring a glimpse of an eternal kingdom to earth.  May we act more like our Savior.