“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. --Luke 6:32-22
I think we’re all familiar with Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. If you haven’t read the book, you’ve most likely seen one of the many movies or plays based on the famous tale.
We know that Ebenezer Scrooge was a hateful old man. Dickens describes him: “Oh ! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, was Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! External heat and cold had little influence on him. No warmth could warm, no cold could chill him.” Not the man one would want for a neighbor, fellow church member, or casual acquaintance.
As we read on, we see that, not surprisingly, people respond to Scrooge by avoiding him entirely.
“Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, ‘My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?’”
And can you blame them? But I was thinking, what if even one person reached out to Scrooge in genuine friendship. Might he have softened a bit?
I am reminded of a story involving my Mother. We didn’t call her St. Joan for nothing. There was a fellow member of the United Methodist Women who had a reputation for being unpleasant and argumentative. This woman’s brother was a sweetheart, and I heard Mom say more than once, “I can’t believe they’re even related.”
One year, Mom made Mrs. Grumpy a cake on her birthday. I asked, “why?” And she said that she assumed no one else would acknowledge her birthday. So, she delivered the cake which was accepted with so much gratitude and an expression of “I love you so much!”
Did the woman’s demeanor change? Not much, but Mom’s life was enriched by the experience.
Is there someone you might reach out to this holiday season? A genuine compliment to the exhausted cashier, a friendly word to the fellow stocking shelves at the grocery store, some cookies to the mother you’ve noticed struggling to keep up with her children’s schedules, won’t change the world, but will make someone’s day a little better. And you will be better for it. That’s a start.
Anita Gardner Farrell
We know that Ebenezer Scrooge was a hateful old man. Dickens describes him: “Oh ! But he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, was Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner! External heat and cold had little influence on him. No warmth could warm, no cold could chill him.” Not the man one would want for a neighbor, fellow church member, or casual acquaintance.
As we read on, we see that, not surprisingly, people respond to Scrooge by avoiding him entirely.
“Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, ‘My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me?’”
And can you blame them? But I was thinking, what if even one person reached out to Scrooge in genuine friendship. Might he have softened a bit?
I am reminded of a story involving my Mother. We didn’t call her St. Joan for nothing. There was a fellow member of the United Methodist Women who had a reputation for being unpleasant and argumentative. This woman’s brother was a sweetheart, and I heard Mom say more than once, “I can’t believe they’re even related.”
One year, Mom made Mrs. Grumpy a cake on her birthday. I asked, “why?” And she said that she assumed no one else would acknowledge her birthday. So, she delivered the cake which was accepted with so much gratitude and an expression of “I love you so much!”
Did the woman’s demeanor change? Not much, but Mom’s life was enriched by the experience.
Is there someone you might reach out to this holiday season? A genuine compliment to the exhausted cashier, a friendly word to the fellow stocking shelves at the grocery store, some cookies to the mother you’ve noticed struggling to keep up with her children’s schedules, won’t change the world, but will make someone’s day a little better. And you will be better for it. That’s a start.
Anita Gardner Farrell
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