Re: A SWEET STORY!

From: rowdyladyrose@aol.com
Fri Aug 2 10:57:19 2002


Just beautiful...thanks for sharing.

kcmo rose

At Tue, 30 Jul 2002, Tish wrote: >
>> > The Rented Room
>> > > >
>> > > > Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of
>> > Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the
>> > upstairs rooms to out patients at the clinic.
>> > > >
>> > > > One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the
>> > door. I opened it to see a truly awful Looking man. "Why, he's hardly
>> > taller than
>> > > my eight-year-old," I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled
>>body.
>> > But the appalling thing was his face, lopsided from swelling, red and raw.
>> > > >
>> > > > Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see
>> > if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning
>> > from the eastern shore, and there's no bus 'til morning."
>> > > >
>> > > > He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no
>>success,
>> > no one seemed to have a room. "I guess it's my face... I know it looks
>> > terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments..." For a moment I
>> > hesitated, but his next words convinced me: "I could sleep in this rocking
>> > chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning."
>> > > >
>> > > > I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went
>> > inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old
>>man
>> > if he would join us. "No thank you. I have plenty." And he held up a brown
>> > paper bag.
>> > > >
>> > > > When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with
>>him
>> > a few minutes. It didn't take a long time to see that this old man had an
>> > oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a
>> > living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who
>>was
>> > hopelessly crippled from a back injury.
>> > > >
>> > > > He didn't tell it by way of complaint; in fact, every other sentence
>>was
>> > prefaced with a thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain
>> > accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He
>> > thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.
>> > > >
>> > > > At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I
>>got
>> > up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man
>>was
>> > out on the porch.
>> > > >
>> > > > He refused breakfast, but just before he left for his bus, haltingly,
>>as
>> > if asking a great favor, he said, Could I please come back and stay the
>>next
>> > time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a
>> > > > chair." He paused a moment and then added, "Your children made me feel
>> > at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to
>>mind."
>> > > I
>> > > > told him he was welcome to come again.
>> > > >
>> > > > And on his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning.
>>As
>> > a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had
>>ever
>> > seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that
>> > > they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I
>>wondered
>> > what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.
>> > > >
>> > > > In the years he came to stay overnight with us there was never a time
>> > that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden.
>> > > >
>> > > > Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special
>> > delivery; fish and oysters packed in a box of fresh young spinach or kale,
>> > every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail
>> > these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.
>> > > >
>> > > > When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a
>>comment
>> > our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. "Did you
>>keep
>> > that awful looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers
>> > by> putting up such people!"
>> > > >
>> > > > Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could
>>have
>> > known him, perhaps their illness' would have been easier to bear. I know
>>our
>> > family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what
>> > it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to
>> > God.
>> > > >
>> > > > Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse, As she showed
>>me
>> > her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all, a golden
>> > crysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise, it was
>>growing
>> > in an old dented, rusty bucket. I thought to myself, "If this were my
>>plant,
>> > I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!"
>> > > >
>> > > > My friend changed my mind. "I ran short of pots," she explained, and
>> > knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind
>>starting
>> > out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, till I can put it out
>>in
>> > the
>> > > > garden."
>> > > >
>> > > > She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was
>>imagining
>> > just such a scene in heaven. "Here's an especially beautiful one," God
>> > > might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. "He
>> > won't mind starting in this small body."
>> > > >
>> > > > All this happened long ago -- and now, in God's garden, how tall this
>> > lovely soul must stand. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.
>> > Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."
>> > (1Samuel 16:7b)
>> > > >
>> > > > Friends are very special. They make you smile and encourage you to
>> > succeed.
>> > > >
>> > > > They lend an ear and they share a word of praise. Show your friends
>>how
>> > much you care.... Pass this on, and brighten someone's day.


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