Six years ago I moved to Las Colinas. Fortunately, there was a nice little CVS pharmacy within walking distance to my house. So naturally, it made sense to fill my prescriptions there. It was a very long hot summer day, six summers ago, when I noticed that I was not being treated with the care that I felt I should be receiving. It aggravated me. It frustrated me. It made me want to go on a tyrant. Eventually, my prescriptions were filled and I left the store in haste. What I didn't realize though, is that at some point, during my visit to the CVS pharmacy on that day, I had left with much more than just a "bag" of prescriptions. In Fact, the bag, or baggage, I should say, that I carried with me home on that day would actually turn out to be much more heavier than any bag of prescriptions that I had ever carried in my entire life. This baggage had a nasty odor to it. The prescription medicines in this bag read "r-e-g-r-e-t, g-r-u-d-g-e, and h-a-t-e. Unlike many of the prescriptions that I take, this bag of prescriptions never ran out. It never needed refills. It just remained there. There always seemed to be plenty of these drugs lying around when I needed them the most. Every time I would go and get my medicines filled at the CVS, I would reopen this bag and allow it to harbor negative feelings toward one particular pharmacy tech at CVS. For six years I harbored these negative feelings. Until...tonight.
I was asked by a friend to attend an EA meeting tonight. When I got to the EA meeting, the pharmacy tech was there, sharing her story. I wanted to run and hide, but instead, I listened. As she began to share her story, her humble life, as a tech at CVS, her tiny and frail body being taken by a vicious cancer, it made me realize how unfair I had been to this woman for six years. I couldn't believe I had let one day ruin my chances of being kind and loving to this woman who so desperately needed me to share God's love with her. I felt horrible. I didn't even stay after the meeting to talk. I just left as quickly as I could. Then I went home and started praying. I asked God to bless this woman and her life. I asked God to forgive me for the hate in my heart. And then, I decided that I would write this woman a letter in which I was able to share God's love with her.
So...tonight...our topic at EA was "Thanksgiving." And tonight, I am very thankful for second chances. I have a renewed opportunity, a second chance, to make right what I made wrong six years ago! Praise God for that!!!
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