ASK, SEEK, KNOCK
The coffee in Kim’s mug jiggled. Her trembling hands produced more ripples that threatened to splash over the rim. She brought it to her lips, but set it down on the table again with a sigh.
Kim’s Bible was open on the table. She swiped at the pages trying to find a psalm for the day. Her mind could not focus. Frustrated, she pushed the book aside as her eyes filled with tears.
Words long held in her memory came effortlessly to her mind: “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want…”
“But I do want, Lord!” she said out loud in exasperation. “I do not have everything I need! I need a way to get to the doctor’s office today.”
Another memory came to her mind, unbidden. “Ask and you will receive!”
“So it’s my fault, is it?” she asked. “I don’t have what I need because I haven’t asked for it?”
“Trust in the Lord!” “Yes, but…” she began.
“No buts, Kim! Ask! Ask and you will receive.”
So she did. She asked. Her wandering mind cleared. “I will step out in faith,” she thought.
Kim stood, took a step to the tissue box, pulled one out, wiped her eyes and blew her nose.
She took a few more steps to the door to her apartment. Sitting on the stool she pulled on her white runners and fastened the Velcro. She put on a light jacket and slung her purse over her shoulder. Grabbing the handles of her walker, she maneuvered it through the doorway and shut the door behind her. Steadily, one determined step at a time, she walked out to her car in the Lodge parking lot.
Kim pressed the key fob to open the trunk and sat down on the seat of her walker.
She remembered words from Matthew 7:7. “Seek and you will find.”
She waited. The morning was quiet.
About three minutes later, a car arrived and parked in a visitor’s space. A woman with her preschool son got out and walked towards the front door of the Lodge.
Kim stood and waved, “Excuse me!” she called. “Do you have a minute? Would you mind lifting my walker into my car for me? I have an important doctor’s appointment.”
“Of course! Delighted to help! We’re visiting my mother today. Mavis Spencer, do you know her?”
“Oh yes! She’s new here, isn’t she? She sits at the table next to me in the dining room.”
The little boy watched as his mother slipped the catch, collapsed the walker and lifted it easily into the trunk of Kim’s car and closed the lid.
“Have a good day! So glad you asked me to help. I had a rough time with my little guy this morning. Wouldn’t do a thing I asked!
You made me feel I could do something right. Thanks! You’ve made my day!”
Kim waved a cheery ‘thank you’. A chuckle of relief relaxed her tense body as she thought,
“I guess we have both done a good turn today.”
Kim’s hands lightly gripped the steering wheel as she drove the familiar route to her doctor’s office. On arrival, she stood beside her car and watched carefully until a young man came walking by.
“Excuse me, do you have a moment?” she called out the window. “Would you mind getting my walker out of the trunk of my car for me? I have an appointment with the doctor in twenty minutes.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. “Glad to help!” He set up the walker for her, made the catch secure and held the door to the doctor’s office open for her.
And so the day continued until she returned home. Kim gave four different people gifts – gifts of feeling appreciated and trusted, of making this world a better place to be in.
Back in her apartment, Kim brewed a fresh mug of coffee and cradled it in her hands. The coffee was still as a mill pond. Her steady hand quickly found Matthew 7:7.
“Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you.”
by Andrea Kidd
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