"It's good to see you too," I told her. "How are you doing?"
"Not so good," Edna said. "You know, I saw my stomach specialist last week and he bumped by lactulose up to four times a day! Now I just can't get out of the bathroom. Do you think he was having a bad day, or do you think I upset him?"
"I'm sure he's trying to keep toxins from building up in your system," I told her.
"Well, I guess that's a good thing," Edna said, a little doubtfully.
We talked about a few other things and then she seemed to brighten. "That was quite the Super Bowl," she said.
"I guess it was."
"I was watching it," the elderly woman told me. "And I just knew that the Patriots were going to come back and win it."
"Really," I said. She could have made a lot of money gambling if she really knew that. "How did you know that?"
"Well, you know the Falcons were really beating the Patriots and I saw Tom Brady sitting there and he looked so discouraged and so I just said a prayer for him: 'God, help Tom Brady win this game so he's not so discouraged.'"
"That's when he started playing better and winning the game."
I was impressed. Not that Edna's prayer had changed the course of the Super Bowl -- I'm sure there bunches of folks praying for their team to win on both sides -- but that she had seen Tom Brady and identified him as a human in need. To most folks, Tom Brady is a quarterback, a really wealthy man who makes more money on a Sunday than most of us will see in ten years. To her, he was a discouraged man who was in need.
I truly believe that love begins with vision. You cannot help people in need if you do not see them, particularly if you choose not to see them and their needs. Having seen them, we must reach out to help them, as best we can.
There are an awful lot of hurting people in this world who need help. I pray that we would have vision to see them and try to touch their lives for good.
Even hurting NFL quarterbacks.
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