Bless Someone Different {Graffiti Summer}

The Graffiti Summer challenge this week from Alene's Graffiti Study and Do guide is to actually do some serving. It's time to bless someone different from ourselves. Alene provided us with a few tips, such as buying a gift card to a fast food restaurant to bless someone in need with.

I decided to take it to the streets. Sorry, Alene, I stole that line from you. But really, I did take it to the streets. I took myself to the streets of Chicago. Better yet, I took myself to the Chicago Blues Festival in the streets of Chicago. Thousands gather for this festival so I was certain I could find someone different from me to serve. The few blocks walk from the train station to the festival alone would surely present me with an opportunity to bless another.

There was a homeless man lying down on a sidewalk corner as I walked outside of the train station. A few others caught my attention as I made my way to the festival but I kept on walking. What was I so afraid of? Why did I not stop?

I arrived at the festival, without stopping to bless another, and it was time for some blues. The warm summer air was filled with the sounds of a harmonica, fiddle, organ, guitar and amazing voices. As I allowed the sounds to fill my own needy soul, I glanced from right to left to get a closer look at the different people I came to serve.

Then I saw her to my right. She had thick, long and dark hair tied together in a braid. My poor use of descriptive words does not paint a good picture of how thick and long her hair was. At first glance my mind immediately goes to classifying her as homeless. Maybe she was, maybe she was not. Either way she had a smile on her face from one ear to the other. She was clearly enjoying the music.

My mind wandered as I continued search out for someone to bless. If the woman I saw was homeless she didn't appear to be in need or despair. Could it be the homeless have days filled with love and laughter too? Do I consider myself more blessed than them because I have a roof over my head?

I imagine they know what it feels like to have and then to lose. I imagine they appreciate what little they do have more than I. We believe they are without. They may go through life still knowing how blessed they are.

Chicago is a city filled with lots and lots of people. Each one of them is different from me. How do I determine who to bless? In Grant Park, where we gathered to listen to the blues, finding someone who needed to be blessed seemed hard to do. The people around me all had smiles glued to their faces. If they were going through troubled times, this was a day they appeared to leave their troubles behind.

You might think I'm crazy but on that day grace appeared to be everywhere; or at least my heart was filled with grace.

I saw people as people, not as though they were less or better than me. All these people standing and sitting around me are loved by the same God. Do they all know how deeply they are loved? Wait, isn't that why I was there?

I was there to see them—I was there to bless them. If only I could say I moved beyond seeing them. 

Maybe this is what I discovered when I took it to the streets. We may all be different, but are we really so different? If we all want to be seen and know—if we are all longing to fit in—how different are we? Are we so different that we should allow our differences to turn us away in fear?

I arrived in Chicago holding five $5.00 gift cards to McDonald's. I left holding four. One of them was given to my son and his girlfriend as I departed with words of encouragement to bless another on their way home. My intentions were to find someone as I walked back to catch my train. There were several I could have stopped to bless along the way. Four gift cards still remain. This is much harder than I thought it would be.

I'm not sure if it was fear of their differences that held me back, or the struggle to understand where do you start and when do you stop. I don't have the means to help them all. And am I really helping them?

My heart's desire is to serve someone in need. Maybe He's calling me to serve in a different way. This coming weekend I'm taking myself back to Chicago and will team up with Chicago Cares to tackle various projects around the city where help is needed. This journey will be taken on my own, which is a big step outside of my comfort zone. I'm not really on my own; God will be leading the way.

Serving has to begin somewhere and this might be my somewhere. You could claim I'm taking the easy way out. I'd say you're wrong. A full day will be dedicated to leaving my own schedule behind and meeting the needs of others. Whether it's beautifying classrooms, school libraries, playgrounds or parks, help is needed in these under served communities and I will be there ready and willing to serve.

Part of me feels I failed when I took it to the streets of Chicago with my gift cards and still came home with them all. That's just the devil getting inside my head again. I didn't fail. God is opening my eyes and heart every day as we take this journey together of learning to step over my fears.

This week we are reading the section God Given Destiny in the book Graffiti: scribbles from different sides of the street. Click here to see what others are sharing as they join me in this Graffiti Summer challenge.

To catch up on all my posts from this challenge, click here.