Over the past several years, about once every four months, I am payed a visit by a gentile, incredibly soft spoken young man who always shows up to the doorstep of my humble home impeccable dressed. Nice fitting dark suit, clean, crisp dress shoes and not a speck of hair out of place. Slender and rather tall, he seems to show up exactly when I am in a trough of life's invariable patches of ups and downs. In fact without fail, he has never shown up when I have not recently been in some sort of personal hardship. And these meetings are pure happenstance mind you. They are not pre-planned n any way shape or form. He just shows up on my doorstep willing to patiently listen to my latest life challenge and bend a caring ear toward compassionate care. In fact, it isn't until the end of our conversation s over the years that he usually invite me to one of his church's (he is Jehovah Witness) upcoming events. But he does so with such grace and endearing kinds that it feels nothing like a sales pitch and more like a helping hand reaching out to extend whatever type of care and compassion he can currently offer!
In all the time he has spent with me, he has NEVER once taken time out of our precious meetings to disclose any information about himself or what he is going through in his life. He keeps all our co-created attention on me and my life situations! REMARKABLE!!
So this Sunday, when I was having a very hard time with some familial triggering issues, he showed up out of the blue like clockwork. We figured it had been over 6 months since we had spoken, yet he showed up right when I could use an ear to bend! But this time, at the end of our conversation, things took a different turn. I actually turned the tables on him and asked how life had been treating him lately. He offered a sly grin and simply uttered the word CHALLENGING!
I told him that in all the years he had been coming here he had always kept business between what was going on in my life, usurping his needs and challenges in the process. But this time I wasn't going to let him of the hook. I grabbed him by the forearm and asked, “May I ask what challenges you are facing in YOUR life?” He looked at the ground and then looked up to give me a nod of yes!
He preceded to tell me he had been out of work the past six months, as the paint shop he had worked with his uncle was forced to close and he had been searching for work ever since. He told me of the financial problems the job loss had cost him and his family. He was barely able to scrape by. And yet, he volunteered for his church EVERY single Saturday and Sunday all day to spread the word of Spirit!! And he did so with a blazing spirit and a smile that could light up the dimmest of hearts!
So I asked him, how he was able to spread the word of the Gospel when his own life seemed to be in such lack and turmoil?! He slowly opened the bible and read me a passage containing the story of to everything there is a season. And as he read me the entire short passage, his eyes were filled with such a passionate ebullience and fervent excitement that it was absolutely infectious. He said that God has promised us that just as the birds do not wake up and worry about how they are going to eat or acquire food, neither shall he worry about his own abundance. And that neither should I!
He continued with his teaching by telling me that just as there is a time for every season, it is for a reason. That each season, no matter how challenging it may appear brings with it the opportunity for growth, faith compassionate, service, and prosperity. The challenge is that some of the seasons are quite arduous to say the least. And this causes us to want to speed through them to get to the next, but by doing this, we miss out on the gifts each season is there to deliver upon to us in due time. If we just remain patient!
“Just as God has promised all his creatures the promise of abundance, he has done the same thing for all of his children. There is no need to fraught with despair when things are not going as planned. As the old saying goes, If you really want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.”
And to me, one of the grandest definitions of a Hero is to be able to comfort someone else even when your own plate of despair is utterly full! And he has been an exemplary example of that type of BEINGNESS to me the last few years.
Sometimes being a hero just means lending an ear and letting someone else know that you care enough to truly listen to THEM and THEIR temporary problems. Or to spread the word of Spirit despite what is showing up in your own life. That takes real Faith , a ton of Courage, and even more Moxy!! SO I ask you today, do you have what it takes to be a Hero for someone in your life who could use just that type of assistance in their time of need?!? And if your answer is a resounding NO, Re-member, you are NEVER alone. Spirit is there to help guide you with the exact words and timing you will need to assist your fellow brothers and sisters in need. I PROMISE you that!!!!
Nerdmaste,
Jeffrey Louis Martinez
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