Symbol or Decoration?

She was an attractive woman who appeared to be of retirement age.  Underneath her tailored fall jacket she wore a black tee shirt embossed with a stylized cross that appeared to be created out of rhinestones. I thought about a question Ruth Bell Graham asked a women she encountered once on the Great Wall of China; her cross necklace seemingly out of place. “Symbol or decoration?”

I knew the answer for the woman before me in the exceptionally long checkout line. Her name tag identified her as a volunteer. Along with a teacher and several other volunteers she was chaperoning a trip to Big Lots for a class of adolescent special needs students.

Her gentle voice, patience, and caring nature communicated to me that her cross was a symbol. She was living the Great Commandment.

I held the door for her to exit with one student holding her hand and two more next to her – one young man gently pushing the wheelchair of a classmate. I smiled and thanked her for what she does. She returned the smile, thanked me, and commented: “There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing!”

Loving your neighbor in action!