Good Day Hope

I had dinner with a friend the other night and when she blessed the meal before we ate, she said, “And, God, I hope you have a good day, too.” With curious eyes, I looked up at her. She quickly shared, “God does so much for us but do any of us ever think to tell Him to have a good day?”

I hadn’t really thought about it since God is all powerful and all knowing. I guess I sort of assumed that God didn’t need my encouragement. But she really sparked a deeper thought about the way I pray and hope for others. God may not need me to tell him my hopes for him to have a good day, but does it really hurt to say it?

Many times in life, it’s easy to get absorbed into the worries of our own lives so much that others’ problems don’t reach the forefront of our minds. I know I’m terribly guilty of this. It’s easy to get so focused on the things that aren’t going right for me that I lose sight of the fact that it could be so much worse. While I was worrying about forgetting to add eggs to my grocery list and bemoaning the fact that I’ll have to go back to the store, someone else on this planet was learning they have cancer or that a loved one has passed away. Eggs don’t seem so much like the end of the world then.

Here is my hope for all of you today, whether you need it or not. I hope that you have a day filled with peace, happiness, and love. I pray that you are cradled in the arms of God’s unfailing love if you’re feeling sad. I pray that you will get the peace that passes all understanding if you’re feeling confused, angry, or frustrated. I pray that you will share your joy with others if you’re feeling happy. But most of all, I pray that you will start a chain reaction and give hope to those who need it, and even those who don’t.

My friend is the type of woman who seeks to treat people with kindness and love. I’ve seen her literally take the shoes off her own feet to give to someone in need. She’s given money to strangers just because she sees pain in their eyes. She’s prayed with strangers outside the front of Walmart when a girl was crying on the sidewalk. The girl shared with her that she had planned to shoot herself in the Walmart bathroom, but the kindness of strangers stopped her. We don’t know the battles that people are facing. While our own problems may seem insurmountable and difficult to navigate, there are people who need to hear hope regardless of where we are in our journey.

When we can recognize that the world is filled with opportunities to give hope, our problems start to take a back seat. By helping others, we are healing ourselves. It doesn’t cost anything but our time. If you’ve ever been hurting in your life with emotional pain, you recognize the hurt. You know the pain and you’d do anything to help someone who’s going through it. I remember riding down a country road with my friend when we saw a girl walking alongside the road, pulling a small suitcase. That’s not something you see everyday in the country. She was crying. Not just tearful eyes, but the kind of gut-wrenching wails that take your breath away. I was driving and when we passed her we sat in silence for a little while. We both looked at each other about the same time and said, “We need to go back.”

It didn’t seem like a logical course of action. In the day and age when people are filled with trickery, it was risky. We didn’t think of the risk of what could happen to us. We thought about how much we could relate to the pain we saw on her face. If you’ve ever experienced it, you know what it is without a shadow of a doubt. We turned around and found a spot to pull off on the side of the road to talk to her. She came over to the car and told us that she didn’t need money or anything, she just needed to get to a phone to call someone to come and get her. We were close to a little gas station and she refused to get in the car, but walked to meet us in the parking lot. Keep in mind, this was late summer in the Georgia heat and this poor girl didn’t have on any shoes. Noticing that the girl didn’t have on any shoes, my friend asked her what size she wore and handed her own shoes to the girl.

After getting her a cold bottle of water, she explained that her ex-husband threw her out of his moving truck. The scrapes and blood on her legs confirmed her story. She told a story of verbal and physical abuse, and talked of how her family had all turned their backs on her because of him. She didn’t even know where she was because she was from several towns over and had never been to that area. I let her use my phone to call a friend to come and get her, and we helped give directions to her friend. We waited with her until her friend arrived. The girl was scared and apprehensive to even talk with us at first but eventually, she started to share her story with us. I can’t imagine the fear she must have felt, being thrown out of a truck and left somewhere unfamiliar with no phone. She said no one even knew that she had gotten into his truck that day. He claimed he wanted to reconcile with her and took her to the river to swim. She packed her little carry on suitcase with her towels, a t-shirt, and sunscreen. On the way home, he started yelling at her and calling her worthless. He slowed the truck down near the parking lot of the gas station, opened the door, and shoved her out. That’s just like what some mean people do to an unwanted dog.

We can say that we would never let something like that happen to us. I’m a strong, independent woman and I can talk a good game of fighting back. But, I don’t know what I would do in that circumstance. People may say they wouldn’t put up with someone being verbally or physically abusive, but sometimes people can get sucked into situations before they even realize what’s happening. Imagine being sucked into that situation and then having your family abandon you. Then, imagine that the man isolated you from all of your friends and wouldn’t let you work. Imagine that he took away your car keys, your phone, and every access to freedom. Escape doesn’t seem so easy then, does it? Giving hope also doesn’t seem so hard.

Just a few words, they seem cliche and sometimes a little robotic. But, the act of telling someone that you hope they have a good day has magical powers. Not only does it carry weight, it can also remove the weight of worry, of loneliness, and can even end up healing your own worries. Taking the time to hope, and to pray, for others is the most powerful thing that we can do as one human to another. Challenge yourself to take the time to pause when you see someone hurting. We are doing God’s work when we can look beyond ourselves to help those in need. And, I’m certain that helps Him to have a good day.

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