Little Pot of Hope

Little Pot of Hope

Here it is again, the season before the holidays and boy; I'm going crazy trying to get the big dinners put together and the presents wrapped. There are so many things to buy and cook just for two holiday's with the family.

Off I head to Wal-Mart or the mall. I'm thinking about watching the Macy's Holiday Day parade on TV, while others are thinking about football or hunting. As I pull into the mall, I notice all the decorations and the people fighting over parking spaces. And there are the bell ringers for the Salvation Army standing outside asking for money. As I try to ignore them I think, "I have to think of my family first," so I manage to get past with a group of other shoppers. Then there is the pushing and shoving and all the Christmas music playing throughout the stores to try to put customers into a buying mood. And over on the corner sits the pudgy little jolly elf himself, Santa Claus. There must be 30 kids standing in line with runny noses and stressed out folks dressed up like Santa's helpers trying to get the kids to sit still for pictures.

I see and hear all of these things but somehow I still have the sense that something is missing. What can it be? As I head for my car, I suddenly hear it... The Salvation Army bell ringer... that lonely, cold figure of a human being ringing the bell with their little red pot asking for a little bit of my bounty to help others who don't have what I do. Then a thought runs across my mind, they are trying to help others in need and those others are my family too. Then all of a sudden, the words of a time tested song from the "Immortal Bing Crosby" runs through mind... "If you haven't got a nickel, then a penny will do, If you haven't a penny, then may God bless you?"

How on this day of celebration could I have walked by them going into the store and not notice them? Was my mind focused on how much I will enjoy this holiday or how much of a bargain I could have found? Or was it cold and I wanted to get into the car and get the heaters running?

There they stand in the long, cold, grey day ringing their bells, trying to give hope to the hopeless and I didn't even think of maybe going to a snack bar and offer them a cup of coffee or hot chocolate Better yet, why didn't I reach into my pocket and help them on their quest to give others a chance to have this holiday.

Then it enters my mind... "Ask not for whom the bell tolls, for it tolls for thee." Finally, I