LITTLE THINGS
“Just a little pinch”, said the
radiologist as she gave my flesh another squeeze and then said, “Don’t breathe”.
As if I could! Mammograms are awful. The machine looks modern but its grandparents
are in a dungeon somewhere in France. I feel violated after this test and I
left there angry and close to tears as I always do. I was composing letters of complaint in my
head as I went about my errands and then on my way out of a store, the woman
behind me called out: “You don’t know how I envy you for having strong legs and
be able to walk.” I turned and saw a
woman who limped severely. I told her I
am very aware of that gift and don’t take it for granted. She smiled and said how hard it was to get
used to limping along. I said that I
knew sometimes the inability to do what we used to do was worse than the
pain. She agreed and a conversation
started. She was at the Pentagon on 9/11
as was my son and so we had a little bond. She told me she had had 15 surgeries
on her leg from knee to ankle and now was facing a 16th because the
ankle work was failing and she was facing 7 months of immobility. At that moment my mammogram faded into
non-existence.
We
exchanged names and I said, “Donna, I’ll pray for you.” She looked startled and said, “You’ll pray
for me?” I assured her I would. I did and I will. She hugged me and got in her car. I sat in mine for a minute wondering why she
was surprised and then it occurred to me that this is evangelization in its
purest form.
But evangelization is too big a word for
what just happened because this was a little thing. But then, much of what people do is made up
of little things; a painting of brush strokes, a tapestry of stitches, a
symphony of notes and here an exchange of words. To evangelize is to share the love you feel
from God with someone else. All you really have to do is follow the example of
Jesus and speak of God with affection and sincerity. You do the little things and leave the rest
up to God remembering that sharing the Good News is a cooperative.
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