Somebody's Child

 The cold weather has set in and I haven't done as well walking the imaginary dog lately.  I walked ahead of a snowstorm last week.  I was in a hurry to get to the creek and back, both before the snow hit harder and before I froze.  So, I was moving when an older model car with a broken out side window stopped by me.  I could see that the driver was an old lady. (Since I am 67 and I consider myself an old lady, this woman appeared to be a really old lady.)

I was prepared to just tell her I didn't know and take off.  Even before the pandemic my mamma taught me not to talk to strangers in cars.  But, her query was simple and understandable. "How do I get out of here?" She was back on the court where I live and I could tell that she would never find the highway if she just kept driving around the courts. I gave her my best shot at directions to get out of there. I made it to the creek and back before the snow was too heavy. And I didn't freeze.

As I walked I thought of the woman.  I wondered how she came to be driving around my unfamiliar neighborhood that cold day.  I wondered where she was going.  I began to wonder if she lived in her car with the broken out window.  I started to feel guilty wondering those things.  I clearly thought I was better than she was.  I didn't think that out in the front of my mind, it was way back inside the cracks, hidden.

Then I considered that this woman was perhaps someone's mother, someone's sister, had one day been someone's precious baby. At one time she had been someone's child.  She had belonged and was cared for. Now she was out driving around,  lost, in the winter weather. I considered that and lifted up a prayer for her.  I hope that my sketchy directions were enough to get her to familiar ground. I remembered that everybody was once somebody's baby. Everybody is loved by God.