Has anyone ever made you feel as though you just didn’t quite meet their standards? I witnessed the opposite one day…
Through his thin paper mask, I knew he was smiling. Then he began to tease the special needs, young lady.
I looked over at her as she had her hands positioned up on the table waiting to have her nails painted. She grinned back at the gentleman. He was painting my nails before my cruise, technically he was supposed to be concentrating on me.
I watched him interact back and forth with the girl throughout the twenty minutes he worked on my nails. His wife was taking care of the hands of an elderly lady beside me, who looked well-to-do. The gentleman’s wife joined in on the teasing, and they had the girl smiling ear to ear.
I relaxed as I watched the interaction go on for a while and smiled to myself. It was as if no one else in the shop existed and it was just the Philipino couple and the girl. They didn’t seem too worried about their more well-to-do customers. Which really impressed me.
To them, it seemed as though a royal princess had entered the nail salon.
They were asking her opinion on different nail polish colours and what she thought. You would have thought she was the Queen of England.
Every once and a while a woman who was with the young lady would come over and wipe her mouth. The girl walked with a slight limp, and she had a smile the size of New York City. She was adorable and full of sunshine.
I was reminded of the day I decided to go to the mall and buy a pair of running shoes. The owner of the store, who was a woman, was on the phone when I walked in. I was the only customer. She acknowledged my presence. I waited for her to get off the phone. In the meantime, a wealthy looking couple came into the store.
When the owner got off the phone, she went over to the couple and helped them first. I was a bit on the grubby side having been a stay at home mom of five young kids and hardly having a moment to look half decent in any one given day. I ran out the door in a hurry to go shopping.
The polite thing for the couple to do would have been to remind her I had been there first. The right thing for her to do would have been to serve me first. Neither of them went with their conscience, or they didn’t have one.
I wondered how the owner of the shoe store would have treated the special needs girl if she had walked into her shop? Poorly I suspect.
Oprah Winfrey could have entered the nail shop, and she would have had to wait her turn and also sit back and listen to them tease the princess.
But many who are the greatest now will be least important then, and those who seem least important now will be the greatest then. -Matthew 19:34
Imagine if everywhere you went the amount of respect you were given was measured by the beauty of your heart, the kindness of your soul and the innocence of your mind. If this were true, many of the people we respect in society now would be lowest on the ladder. Their pocketbooks and wallets might become meaningless to them.
I have a son, Kyle, who has severe autism. He has the lowest spot in society according to some people. But Kyle doesn’t size people up by money, jobs, cars and jewels. He measures your kindness and respect towards him and other people and decides if he wants to be your friend.
Kyle has a heart similar to God’s:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!”
God placed very little worth of earthly riches. He put a very high value on the measure of a person’s heart:
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” – 1 Samuel 16:7
What about you? Have you felt rejected by the world because you are poor, have special needs, you’re not beautiful, or maybe you lack athletic ability or talent? God believes you are more precious then the most exquisite gold or diamonds this world could mine. He thinks you are of great worth.
You just need to believe it💗
“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who are humble,
for they will inherit the whole earth.
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
for they will be satisfied.
God blesses those who are merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
for they will see God.
God blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God.
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”
-Matthew 5: 3-10
