I stopped on a country lane this weekend to witness an unusual act of kindness and intelligence. A car had stopped in the lane coming toward me and the driver was out of his car and had picked up a beautifully marked snake that had been crossing the road. Carefully he let it go in the long grass and summer lilies between the blacktop and an old stonewall. Most people would have tried to run over it thinking they were doing a good thing. It was nice to see someone go out of his way to do the right thing.
Sometimes we do the wrong thing thinking it is right but more often we just don’t do the right thing because it is not convenient. That is one of the points of the story of the Good Samaritan. The first two most likely thought they were doing the right thing because the wounded wasn’t one of them. Recently someone told me a clerk in a religious bookstore refused to imprint the person’s name on a Bible because he wasn’t a member of the church that owned the bookstore. That level of bigotry makes me shudder.
It wasn’t convenient to take the man to an inn and pay for his care. Often it is not convenient to make that visit or phone call. After all we are very busy. We must keep up with our hectic schedules. I especially think we get extra character development when we inconvenience ourselves for someone we don’t like. Paul wrote, “Therefore if your enemy is thirsty, give him drink. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12
Written by Roger Bothwell on July 28, 2008.
Photo by Simon Matzinger.
Spring of Life, St. Helena, CA 94574