Driving away from Moffitt Cancer Center, my mind knew it would not return. My heart and soul knew it never would leave. It had been one of the most difficult weeks of my life. Tears engulfed me, not because of forthcoming death but because of the present of lives. My sobs were not of despair but born of witnessing mankind as God created His children to be – even in the face of impending death.
My brother, his son and I arrived at Moffitt late Thanksgiving night. My brother was admitted. His son and I were committed to staying both the course and the nights by my brother’s side. What I had not anticipated was that as the page of Thanksgiving was turned, Dollar Store bells would ring in the most powerful Christmas gift – love.
The rooms, floor, halls and elevators of a cancer center are overflowing with beautiful people suffering an ugly disease. Every race, religion, and socio-economic level, side by side, are pummeled by an enemy that weapons, too often, cannot eradicate.
My heart was heavy and my soul weary the morning after Thanksgiving as I rode the elevator all the way down to rock bottom and the hospital cafeteria. As I trudged toward fueling my body, Dollar Store bells rang out. Entering the pit stop for bodies hungering for more than a meal, my soul found nourishment whipped up in God’s personal kitchen and served by God’s personal angels.
The check out ladies were adorned in Dollar Store bells. Their wrists, necks and headbands, embellished in the sound of Christmas, brought smiles to faces weighed down by fear and sorrow.
Who were these women whose hearts were reaching out to downtrodden souls? Judged by the world they are not rock star performers, upper echelon society or reigning leaders. Weighed against God’s Word, they are Our Heavenly Father’s servants who personify “…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.”. Matthew 25:40 (NIV)
As I approached one of the Dollar Store belled servers, tears streamed down my cheeks. I expressed that she truly fed more than cancer families’ stomachs. She fed their hearts and souls. Hugging this very special child of God, she squeezed me back and whispered, “We may not be able to spread Christmas joy, but we can give all Christmas LOVE.
Days later, as the cancer center was escaping my rear-view mirror, tears again were streaming down my face. Though my heart was deeply missing Moffitt’s Dollar Store belled ladies, my soul would forever hold them close. Cancer is horrendous, but in its midst, God had blessed me with Dollar Store bells that all the money in the world can’t buy.
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 