It was Saturday around mid-morning when I looked out the front window and saw a little girl from up the street bent over and looking with intense focus in one of our flower beds. I watched for a moment and realized that she was repeatedly picking something up and putting it down. So, I wandered outside to see what was happening.
As I approached, I saw that she was holding a huge old toad that had just woken up from winter hibernation. It was a bit lethargic but nevertheless it was eager to be on it’s merry way.
“Hi there. What have you got?,” I asked.
“I found a big old frog”, she replied.
“Wow! I think it is a toad who just woke up from a winter nap.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Can I keep it?”
“No, but you can come and visit it when ever you like. I don’t think it is going to travel far. It likes being around the flowers and the bugs that are attracted to them.”
“OK.”
And with that she put down the toad, hoped on her bike and headed home.
A couple of days later, I was out weeding in the front yard. When a small voice behind me asked, “Have you seen Mr. Toad today?”
“No, but I suspect he is around here some place.”
We looked for a minute or two but we could not find the toad.
“What are you doing?”, she inquired.
“Pulling weeds. I want to grow flowers more than I do little trees and dandelions.”
“Did you know my Mom is a nurse?”
“Yes. She has an important job.”
“I know. Do you have any extra flowers I could give her? I want to thank her for what she does.”
At the moment, I was weeding a flower bed that had about three hundred plus daffodils in full bloom. I looked around and said, “Definitely. I have more than enough to share. Let me go and get some scissors from the house. You start thinking which colors you like.”
When I returned from the house, she pointed out all the different kinds she liked and I clipped two or three of each kind until we had a bouquet of flowers that required two little hands to hold.
At that moment, her Mom called from up the street and started walking down toward our house. This sweet little girl popped the big bouquet of flowers behind her back.
Next, she looked at me and then she looked at her bike. Having gotten the message, I put down my scissors and picked up her little bike. Together we walked up the hill toward her Mom.
Soon, Mom and daughter met with huge smiles and hugs. The little girl was beaming and the Mom was close to tears from the act of such love.
I handed the Mom the bike, thanked her for her work as a nurse, and headed back down the street. As I came to our front steps and picked up the scissors, I thought of the following quote from the book of Matthew, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
In a world that has been turned upside down and sideways all at the same time, it is time for each of us all to remember this simple but powerful phrase.
As sheltering in place slowly comes to an end, we must continue to be generous, kind and compassionate people. We need to be present to one another and support one another as best we can. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu wrote, “Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” And loving your neighbor is a powerful “little bit of good.”
Remember: the only way through this is together. Friend to friend. Neighbor to neighbor.
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