Every once and a while you witness something that effects you more by seeing than by being seen in that moment. If you live in a city, then you have most definitely seen someone that is homeless pushing a shopping cart on the sidewalk. Everything they own is literally in their cart, a thought most of us can barely grasp as realistic, think about it. Everything that he would call his own fits in a two foot by four foot metal basket. We use the same basket to buy food, we carry it to our car, that depending on the size, could be filled up multiple times with a basket. Then we drive it to our house or apartment that can fit so much more, we have so much space and so many objects in that space, but the homeless guy I saw yesterday had a basket that held his entire life. It was his bedroom, kitchen, living room, garage, car and backpack. As I was driving by, I noticed his cart had fallen over and his possessions we’re everywhere, and a police officer had pulled over to help him pick up his belongings. This effected me profoundly. If we were to be honest we would say we regard the things in his basket as trash, but what the officer displayed was that this man who is looked down on by most of society matters, his shopping cart matters and what we regard as useless is actually someones home. Isn’t this what Jesus did? Coming to each of us in the emptiness of our souls, helping us pick up what little we had inside of us even if it didn’t mean that much to anyone else. He bent down to put back together the fragments that make up who we are as humans, broken and craving wholeness.
My view on a man pushing a shopping cart is forever changed. I now see my brokenness and I see, not someones junk, but their home. Every person matters, you matter, we all matter
