Something to Complain About...

Recently, I met a mother of four that I want to tell you about. We will name her Jane for the sake of my story. When I first met Jane months back, she was pregnant with her fourth child. Every time I ran into her she seemed to be upset about something. We were just aquaintances, but I kind of felt that she was angry and honestly, I just tried to avoid her and the negative energy that she exuded. I couldn't figure out what she had to be upset about because what I knew of her was that she had three beautiful children, she was about to have her fourth, and she had a loving husband. For awhile I thought maybe she was just an unhappy pregnant woman, but her moods didn't really change after she had the baby back in December. I was never rude to her, I just didn't know how to talk to her. I would always smile when I saw her and try and keep the topics of our conversations light and easy. She never complained about anything, she just never smiled.

A couple days ago though, I learned that there is a very good reason for Jane's sadness and anger. I learned that her husband is very ill with a rare and terminal DNA disease. She has been told to prepare her children to say goodbye to him and that he has only months to live. Because of her husband's illness and his inablity to work for over a year, he lost his job, they fell behind in their bills and lost their house last fall. The worst part of it though is that her four year old son is exhibiting symptoms of the same genetic disease that her husband is dying from and they are waiting the results of her son's test.

When I heard this story. I simply wept and felt awful for the way I had avoided learning more about this woman and had only wanted to have a "surface" friendship with her. I now look at Jane as amazingly strong. As I said before, I have never heard her complain . I can't even begin to imagine what she is going through and my heart breaks for her and her family. I see how strong she is trying to be for the sake of her children, but I am sure she is overwhelmed with fear and saddness.

Hearing Jane's story made me think about the importance of a smile. While there is not much I can do for Jane and her family but pray for them or bring them a meal, I can share a smile with her and be there to listen if she ever wants to vent. I know even when I myself, feel deep sadness, I find smiles to be contagious. I can't resist smiling back when a stranger or friend shares their smiles with me. Maybe by showing Jane a little bit of kindness and compassion it will bring a little warmth to her day.

I am sharing this story with you all for two reasons:

1) To ask you to pray for Jane and her family that they will find peace with this awful situation. Pray that her husband's final days will be comfortable and peaceful, that Jane will find peace and the strength she needs to make it through such dark days and that God willing, her son's test results will come back negative.

2) The other reason I share this with you is that I ask you to reflect on the kindness or "smiles" that you share with strangers or "surface" friends. These are the people with whose story we are unfamiliar and it might just be that they need an ear to listen or smile to warm their day. We never know how much that can mean to someone who is drowning in saddness and despair.