As soon as I got there, she pulled me aside and started talking. I couldn’t quite understand but our interpreter wasn’t nearby so I did my best. What I could gather was that she was drunk, she was upset that she had resorted to drinking again, and she was sick (we later learned she has cancer). She held my hand and started to weep. It was then, she took off her ring and put it on my finger. I couldn’t help but tear up. I didn’t know how to help her, all I could do was say “Jesus loves you, and I love you” over and over again.
Our interpreter then showed up and was able to explain a little more. When I asked Natasha why she had given me her ring, she replied “I don’t know. I love you. It’s from my heart. I wholeheartedly wanted to give you something.” At that point, God confirmed what He wanted me to do, so I took off my ring and gave it to her. We both started to cry again.
The rest of the time we spent trying to have a conversation about her issues (turns out we have similar pasts), and me telling her it was ok, God still loved her even though she was drunk again. Through it all, she held my hand. When she left, she told me my ring would always mean something to her, but she was too ashamed to come back to the club. I don’t know if she will come back, but I hope she will.
It got me thinking though. It brought me to a breaking point that I had not yet reached on the Race. And that’s this- I can’t do anything to really help the world. I can only hold so many hands. I can only feed so many people, can only pray for so many people, can only interfere in so many conflicts. And that sucks. There’s always going to be brokenness and sadness and anger and pain and suffering. I’m not saying I’m ever going to stop trying, but how can I go on forever knowing that. Can I really change the world like I think I can??? Do I even believe that I can change the world anymore???
And then God sent me a little nugget of truth via Morgan Freeman (I should probably preface this with the fact that God speaks to me through movies…plus c’mon who doesn’t love Morgan Freeman?). So I’m watching Evan Almighty, and Mr. Freeman, aka God in the movie, says this, “How do you change the world? One act of random kindness at a time.”
Bam, did that hit me! It’s true. I can’t change the world on my own. I can’t hold every drunk I see’s hand. I can’t feed every street kid I find. I can’t keep the world from fighting. And that does suck…but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a part in changing the world. I can do one random act of kindness at a time. And so can you.
