“Can a woman forget her nursing-child,
or show no compassion for the child of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me. (Isaiah 49:15-16)”
Advent 4 delves into LOVE as its theme. There is a heart wrenching scene in “It’s a Wonderful Life” where angel second class, Clarence Oddbody, shows George Bailey what life would have been like had he not been born. George runs up to his family home that would have become a boarding house and his mother, old and haggard, does not know him and turns him away. He runs into Mary who never married and tries to escape him. He sees the grave of his brother Harry who would have drowned as a child and never grown to be a pilot and saved a boat of people. Clarence turns to George and says, “You really had a wonderful life.” George had lost perspective but God did not. God ‘s love remembers the good that we do.
How many centuries have passed and we still remember the role Joseph played in the birth of the Christ child. He may not have been the main character but love remembers him and honors him in Matthew’s report. It is possible to despair and feel invisible and unimportant but we do not know who is watching and whose life we touch with our deeds of kindness and the times we refrain from lashing out because we are hurt.
Take a minute to remember a few deeds of kindness that you remember that touched your life. Thank God for those involved. Perhaps you can think of a way to “pay forward” in gratitude for someone else’s kindness to you. Bless as you have been blessed!
On the Way to Wonder 