She was a mother of three children, doing a part time course in Sociology. As a requirement to complete her course, her professor had given her an assignment on the topic “smile” – wherein she must study smiling faces of at least three different individuals – by understanding their facial expressions.
One day she and her husband went to dine at a McDonald restaurant. While waiting for their turn to place their order, she noticed that, others who were waiting ahead of them, in the queue, turn were stepping away from the counter. Due to some reasons, the people who were in queue started to move back including her husband. She looked around and found the cause of the commotion – two beggars dressed in awful, dirty, stinking clothes.
One of the beggars was short statured but had brilliant blue eyes. Looking at this lady he smiled. The beggar’s smile meant like he was pleading not to be rejected due to his uncouth looks. God’s light shined in his eyes. Counting the coins in his hand he greeted her. The second beggar’s actions showed that he was mentally challenged. On seeing their condition, tears welled in her eyes.
The lady cashier in the restaurant enquired with these beggars, what they wished to order. They ordered just for a couple of cups of coffee, to keep themselves warm and stay in the confines of the comfortable restaurant – to protect themselves from the intense cold climate outside. Both picked their coffee cups and sat in a corner of the restaurant.
When the lady’s turn came, she ordered a meal for herself and for two more meals. She handed over the two meals to the poor people. All eyes were on her. That blue eyed short beggar thanked her with tears. She patted them and said that God had just used her to do a good service – to give them hope”.
On seeing this, her husband and others were proud of her. When she shared this incidence in her college, many were touched.
“…. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40)
