COMMENTARY: Christmas found me this year
___By Brian Burton
___As the lines of hungry and homeless families snaked outside the Wilkinson Center's door in east Dallas, their faces blurred as my exhaustion grew.
___Suddenly, a woman wearing a soiled pink coat stepped out of the line. She looked familiar, but I couldn't remember her name.
___"May I see you in your office?" this woman asked softly, barely moving her lips.
___Her eyes twinkled like the tiny wedding band on her wrinkled finger. She appeared eager to share something.
___As I took a seat at my desk, she remained standing, shivering from the cold winter mist she had just escaped.
___"My husband is a disabled vet," she announced. "We've come here for years, and you've helped us with food and rent."
___Fully expecting a request for financial assistance, I stiffened in anticipation of having to tell her no funds were available.
___ "My husband finally was approved for his disability pension," she continued, her voice mingled with relief and fatigue. "He got back pay, and now we want to give back to the Wilkinson Center."
___As she mumbled something, her concentration shifted to her bag as her bony fingers probed its contents. She extracted a wad of bills and pressed them into my hand. "We don't want any credit, just use this to help somebody," she insisted.
___Opening my hand, I stood and counted five 100 dollar bills. My mouth opened, but no words came out. She smiled as we stared in ineffable silence.
___"I don't even know your name," I confessed as my speech faltered.
___"That doesn't matter. Just help somebody else like you helped us."
___I thanked her and excused myself to call other staff into the room to meet her. When I returned minutes later, she had vanished.
___The encounter that day seemed surreal, as if an angel had descended for a moment and left behind a sweet fragrance in the sweep of her wings.
___This year, I did not find Christmas in the crush of mall shopping, glittery pageants or holiday soirees. Christmas found me. It arrived in the form of a poor woman living the words of Jesus and the prophets of old: "Just help somebody else."
___Brian Burton is executive director of the Wilkinson Center, an inter-church ministry that serves 16,000 people in poverty in East Dallas.
Baptist Standard
News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!/ Signup for FirstLook