A Welcoming Glance

A Welcoming Glance

O LORD, do not stay far away! You are my strength; come quickly to my aid! Psalm 22:19

The story is told of the third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, who was traveling on horseback with his entourage. Rain had fallen for several days, so they were looking for a place to cross a swollen river. At last they came to a narrow place that looked safe between the two muddy banks.

As the group approached the water, a man stood up from under the tree where he was huddled. With rain dripping into his eyes, he looked into the face of each man. President Jefferson was near the end of the line, and it was to him the man directed this question: “Please, sir, may I ride across the river behind you?”

The president nodded and then held out his arm so the man could swing up onto his sturdy horse. As the party crossed safely to the other side, the man slid off the animal and graciously thanked his benefactor.

As the man started to walk away, one of President Jefferson’s companions called to him. “Tell me, how is it you dared to ask to ride across the river behind the President of the United States?”

The man looked stricken. “Oh, sir, forgive me.” Then he turned to his accuser. “I didn’t know he is the president. But as all of you approached, I looked at each one. I saw no in your faces, but I saw yes in his.”

What do people see in our faces? Indeed, there will be times when we need to drop everything to take a panicked mother into our car so we can follow the ambulance to the emergency room. We may need to welcome the children of the young woman who is taking her husband for chemotherapy.

But there will be other times we will need to say to a fretting friend, “I’m sorry, but I can’t pick out new shoes with you.”

Often, the only way to find the balance between what we truly need to do and what we feel compelled to do is to ask for the Lord’s help each day. As we listen, his quiet instructions may arrive through a fresh insight, a creative thought, or the reminder that our gentle expression and gracious words can soften a necessary rejection. —SANDRA

Lord, thank you for the reminder that your divine nature often is seen in our human faces. Even when I can’t be or do what others expect, may they still feel loved.

The thread of our life would be dark, Heaven knows, if it were not with friendship and love intertwined. —THOMAS MOORE (1779–1852), IRISH POET