Homelessness and Charity

There are a lot of homeless people living in and around Newport.  This also means that at many of the street corners one will encounter a person or two standing with a sign asking for a variety of things. 

Last week I drove to pick up the girls from school.  As I went through the intersection I noticed a woman sitting in a wheel chair holding a sign that said, "Cat food" and a man standing with her holding a sign that said, "An act of kindness anyone?".  Well, I didn't have any cat food but I did have an act of kindness, so I said a prayer for the couple (I'm sure that's what they wanted) and continued on my way. 

Ten minutes later after I had picked up the girls, I was driving back home and I saw the same couple on the corner...with the man sitting in the wheel chair and the woman standing behind him.  Hmmm....

This past week our lesson in church was about having Charity.  The topic of how we treat the homeless people came up.  How do we know who sincerely needs help and who is just trying to get something for nothing.  The consensus was to follow the Spirit and let the Lord guide you. 

Later that week as I was leaving the Wal-Mart parking lot (a hot spot for someone with a sign) there was a kid standing there today.  He couldn't have been older than 20 and he was holding a sign that said, "homeless, hungry, hopeless.  anything helps".  The "hopeless" part struck a chord in my heart because I know what a dark place it is to be in.  I never have cash, so I looked around my car and pulled out a box of graham crackers I had just bought.  I opened my door and handed it to him and asked if that would help.  He said with a wavering voice, "Oh thank you!  You have no idea!" 

At that moment I was overwhelmed with love for this kid.  I said, "God bless you." and I really meant it and I felt the love that my Heavenly Father had for this young man.  Although he was on a street corner begging for help, he was still one of God's children.  We are reminded in Mosiah 4:19 and 21 in the Book of Mormon "For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have? ...And now, if God, who has created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another."
http://lds.org/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/4?lang=eng

1 Corinthians 13:3

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

I guess that's what charity is.  It was nice to feel...even if it was only for a minute :)