Shut up and focus!

A pair of shoes, a coffee cup and a pile of hair

This is what greeted me when I arrived to pick up my daughter from her work. Sitting there like a memorial, neatly piled up by the door outside. A pair of nice looking hiking shoes, surrounded by a pile of what appears to be longish, somewhat knotty, curly hair, and a gas station coffee cup. 

On what was otherwise a busy day, with my mind running through all the things I had to do that day, picking up Megan was second or third on a list of dozens of tasks, and plans, and projects rolling through my head. 

Then this image struck me like a ton of bricks. 

At first I was thinking "What..on..earth..?", and I walked around it to go in and find my daughter. Then I heard the story.

A story of a man who showed up at a local business (a few doors down from my daughter's) asking to have his hair cut, since it was knotty and he had apparently just gotten out of jail. Then he insisted on keeping his hair. Carried it out with him and found his way to the Dojo, and upon discovering the door unlocked, went in to find a place to rest on the mats. By this time the police had been called, and they found him inside and took him - leaving his shoes and hair behind. 

Suddenly this pile of stuff meant something to me. I felt bad for that man. What if his hair and his shoes were his only belongings?  I thought of how lost he must have been. How the comfort of the padded floor in the dojo must have seemed so nice for a moment..... I was hoping that the officer would get his belongings to him somehow, but when I came back later that day, there they sat, still near the door. With many more people about to arrive, I felt the need to pick up his things our of respect for this man, whoever he was. I didn't want it just trampled and messed up as if it were garbage laying there. Yes, I tossed the coffee cup, but bagged the hair and shoes just in case he were to come back to claim them. 

What does this have to do with anything?, you may ask... Well, it has had a lot to do with everything to be honest! That image is still burned in my brain, reminding me that my little problems are nothing compared to others' problems. That the little things we get worked up about as human beings are just distractions from the bigger picture. Even when doing the right things, the evil one can and will find a way to distract us from accomplishing our goals buy inserting pride and envy and conceit, materialism and self doubt and harsh judgement. 

I hope I can keep this image in my memory as a reminder to appreciate the needs of others and not take their struggles lightly. I also hope that if the Lord needs me to be in a place of assistance to one of my brothers or sisters, that I am not too distracted to heed the call of the Holy Spirit. 

...and I hope that he gets his shoes back. Whoever he is.