A Walker

A Walker (1,194)

July 1st, 2011

Strolling to the back of the church sanctuary last night after having finished my presentation, I saw one woman perched on the last pew with a beautiful smile on her face. I shook her hand and made my way out to the book table. Short moments later, she was standing in front of me, still smiling, with her walker.

She explained that she had realized that she was going to be late to the concert but decided to come anyway, hoping there would be a handicapped parking space, which would make it easier for her to get in, and that she would slip in quietly without interrupting the spirit in progress. She was elated to find that parking space, and came into the sanctuary, sliding into the back so as to be quiet, and with no squeaking of the walker, she sat herself down to enjoy the proceedings. She went on to tell me that she still lives on her own, climbs stairs to the best of her ability and uses her walker to get around for all those other occasions. She was happy.

Sometimes I grow weary of people who tell me that circumstance is what controls their happiness. It is not. When I was in Haiti I saw people who were mixing saw dust with rice to create a larger meal for themselves to take away the ache in their bellies—but the pain never dimmed the smiles on their faces.

I’ve also met people with plenty of money and employees acting like slaves, who were only able to produce misery in their speech and darkness on their countenances. Happiness has absolutely nothing to do with circumstance. It has some relationship to how willing we are to continue to live on with dignity and spice, in spite of the obstacles that may be thrown in our path. For after all, a stumbling block does not trip us up if we’re looking for it. Only if we have the arrogance of peering too far into the future are we in danger of tripping over the present hurdle.

I immediately loved that woman. She is a walker—not because she has a contraption that allows her to do so, but because she understands that as long as you’re moving forward, your life never needs to go backwards. And because she believes in things like possibility, hope and faith, parking places do open up to her and walkers don’t creak and interrupt programs. And she even discovers from the back of the auditorium that the spirit of God can find and touch her heart.

Don’t be so sure that we have satisfied the requirement of God by simply showing up. Wouldn’t it be funny if the greater need in the mind of the Almighty was to see our smiles?