The opportunity to bless others sometimes shows up in unexpected ways.
I haven’t been spending much time on Facebook lately. The political barbs are still flying and quite frankly, I’m tired of hearing it. I have never believed that a man or a woman was the answer to our country’s problems. If we are putting our faith in humanity alone, we have missed the boat.
But, when I did take a moment to scroll through my feed last night, a post from GodVine caught my eye. The headline was about a grandma’s text sent to a wrong person, going viral.
Now, my sweet Mama loves to consider herself tech savvy and that sounded exactly like something she would do, so I stopped to read it.
Apparently, a grandma named Wanda, meant to text the details of her upcoming Thanksgiving dinner to her grandson, but texted a perfect stranger instead. The 17 -year-old stranger was a senior in high school, named Jamal. When he didn’t recognize her number, he asked who she was.
She replied, “your grandma.” He then asked for a picture, which she sent. He then sent her a selfie, expecting to end the conversation when she saw they clearly were not related, but he asked her if he was still invited.
I imagine he never expected to hear from her again.
But, she replied, “Of course he was invited, she would save him a plate because that’s what grandma’s do, feed everyone.”
The shocked teen posted screen shots of the conversation all over Twitter, saying, “Somebody’s grandma is coming in clutch this year!!” (which simply means, saving the day)
Wanda’s act of kindness has been re-tweeted 150,000 times. Jamal said, “With…all the racial comments going on, it’s kind of good to see there’s still good people out there.”
Wanda was surprised about all of the attention and she met Jamal and his family a couple of days later and officially invited them to Thanksgiving dinner. They accepted.
Tears streamed down my face as I read this story. These are the stories that we need to share. The call to love one another is strong and we are often given so many unexpected opportunities to show the love of Jesus to those who so desperately need to see it.
Abraham Lincoln attempted to use the Thanksgiving holiday during the Civil War, to unite the country and he issued a proclamation: “I do therefore invite my fellow citizens…..to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of thanks and praise to our beneficient Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. I also recommend while offering up ascriptions justly due Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also with humble pentinence for our nationwide perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are currently engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of this nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.”
It almost sounds like a prayer, a prayer we could surely pray over 150 years later. I think Abe would be equally proud of Wanda and Jamal. Agreeing to accept a kindness is every bit as much a testament to faith as extending the kindness is.
I pray this Thanksgiving, that we will seek more stories like Wanda and Jamal’s and share them. I pray that we will become willing participants in stories like theirs. I pray that we will take a cue from Wanda, and make it our mission to feed everyone, because that’s what Christians do.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂