Last night I attended a benefit concert to help raise money for affordable music education for children in poverty. I had been feeling a bit down about the Christmas season; there were just some heavy things on my heart. So when a girlfriend asked for a little ‘QT’ at the concert, my spirit lifted a bit to feel loved. As I was parking my car, I noticed an older woman driving around. She stopped and asked if she could park next to me. “Sure!” I told her. She seemed uneasy so I waited for her so we could walk in together. She told me this was her first time at the venue and really her first time being out after dark. As we walked down the street together, we exchanged names and I asked her what prompted the sudden decision to come out. She said she heard on a Christian radio station that a certain artist was going to be performing and she supported his ministry work for the homeless. She thought it would be nice to support his music.

As we neared the door, she talked about not having much money, which is why she didn’t ‘valet’ her vehicle. In that moment, I felt led to pay her cover charge to get into the concert, and I wish my heart could be content that I did but we got caught in the shuffle and I lost her at the door. My heart was let down a bit. But when I got inside, I caught up with her at a table and sat down to talk as I waited on my friends. The elderly woman, Marlene, mentioned this was her first time in 3 years that she’s gotten out of the house to do ‘something’ since her husband passed. At 72, she said the first two years without him weren’t as bad as the loneliness she feels this year. It’s as if it’s all caught up to her in the last few months that he’s really gone. In that moment, I felt God’s Spirit reminding me that we are called to ‘take care of the widows and orphans’. I extended Marlene an invitation to a table with a few of my friends and offered to walk her to her car at the end of the show. But sometime during the last show, she disappeared. I searched everywhere for her… asking the woman at the door, people who were standing next to me ‘have you seen this woman?’ They all looked at me with a blank stare and asked ‘what woman’? Numerous people tried to describe other older women they had seen, but no one, not even the valet guarding the door, saw this woman come in or leave.

As I got to my car, I noticed Marlene’s was gone. I thought, maybe I could try to find this woman and be her friend and take her to lunch or dinner once a week. But the Spirit of God consumed me; this was an angel. And a message followed. Hearts get broken, the details in this life can consume us and Christmastime can become a chaotic circle of to-do’s to get caught up in. But that’s not why a Savior was sent to this earth. This is what life is about.  

Unfortunately, the world doesn’t have to work hard to distract us from that focus. This morning I awoke and a sadness flooded my heart. I reflected on this angel’s visit from last night and it was a comfort to my spirit. At this time of year, more than any other I believe, it is important not to become so inward focused on cares and concerns that we miss our ultimate calling in life.

Love one another like Christ loved the church, with a complete, crazy abandonment to this world. And be sure to take care of the widows and orphans left behind.

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.