3:00am Glass of Water

If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. -Mother Teresa

 

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.   Romans 13:8

My thirst awakens me.  I really do not want to get out of bed and go down the steps.  I lie still a little while longer but my thirst urges me up.  A few minutes later, I am in the kitchen finishing a glass of water, fully awake!  I decide to pour another glass and sit out front.  It is a beautiful summer night.  So quiet.  A few cars hum by, but other than that, silence.  No squirrels.  No squabbles.  This is a side of the city I do not often feel.

Then I see Roger.  He walks the neighborhood, sometimes the city, all day long, rarely with a destination.  I wanted to believe that he had a place to sleep at night.  I often invite him to help me in the garden or with something that needs to be done in the church. During this hour he walks over and sits.  “Baby, can I get a glass, too?”  I return to the small stoop with a glass of water, a turkey sandwich and a banana.  We don’t talk as he eats.  There are so many questions going through my mind that I have always wanted to ask him.  Somehow, I know this is not the time.  He thanks me when he is finished and goes on his way.  I watch him walk away in the opposite direction that he was headed before he stopped to sit.  I wonder if he knows where he is going.  I wonder what unfolds each night of his life.  He has no home but he is my neighbor.   He turns a corner and is no longer in sight.  Once again, I am alone, in my pajamas, on the stoop.

Merciful God, who has the power to quench all thirsts, I thank you for the opportunity to serve my brother this hour.  Protect and nourish all who wander city streets throughout the world. Open the hearts of those of us who have so much that we might respond to our sisters and brothers compassionately.

 This Hour’s Ponderings

1.  How do you quench your spiritual thirst?

2.  How are you called to quench the thirsts of others?

3.  Who in your neighborhood needs your compassion?

4.  How is God speaking to you this hour of this day?