Little Rose was born with a serious health condition. She was born without the ability to see. How sad her parents were that their little daughter could not see the beautiful things on the earth such as the flowers, the trees, the grass and the sunshine. More than that, she could never see their faces or the faces of her siblings.
Yet, her parents loved Jesus and dedicated Little Rose to the Lord and asked for help in raising her. Thankfully Rose could hear and so they sang beautiful hymns to her, and as she grew in understanding they read to her many Christian children’s books, about the stories in the Bible, from Adam and Eve, to Abraham, Joseph, Moses and David. And most importantly the story of Jesus and how He suffered for our sins.
Rose had never been able to see so she had no idea as to what she was missing. Her parents did their best to help her lead as normal a life as possible. She entered school and learned to read using Braille. She eventually became quite proficient in the use of a computer by touch and sound.
And Rose learned to love Jesus and accepted her lack of sight as the will of God. She looked forward to the day when she would one day be able to see the face of Jesus and the face of her parents. She loved to read those portions of the Bible where Jesus healed the blind people, yet she also accepted the fact that Jesus may decide that she must be blind for the rest of her life and she was happy, always smiling. She spoke of the love of Jesus with whomever she met and she had lifted the spirits of many downcast friends and strangers. She was also one of the most faithful attendants at her local church. She loved to also sing songs to honour and glorify her Redeemer and was the lead singer in the local church choir at the age of 16.
As Rose grew she had become quite independent and was able to take care of many of her own needs at home. She also had her guide dog, Goliath, who helped her to walk around town.
When Rose reached the age of 16, she also wanted to start to be able to make some money of her own so that she could support herself and purchase things for herself without having to always depend on her parents.
The opportunity arose of having a fruit stand in the airport. Rose had apples, bananas and oranges for sale. She set up her stand and, day-by-day, people came by and purchased her fruit. She always smiled and gave them a religious pamphlet as well, and told them, “God bless you.” Her customers went away smiling and happy and her work was going quite well.
It happened one day that a group of salesmen were hurrying through the airport. Their meeting had run late and they were in a hurry to catch their plane home. They had assured their wives that they would be home in plenty of time for Friday night’s dinner. In their rush, with tickets and briefcases in hand, moving quickly through the airport terminal, one of these salesmen inadvertently kicked over Rose’s table. Apples, bananas, oranges and pamphlets flew everywhere. Without stopping or looking back, they all managed to reach the plane in time as they had nearly missed boarding.
All but one! Stephen. Stephen was raised in a Christian home. He was very active in the church until he got married and got this new job. He was now so busy with work and home and family, that he had stopped attending church, taking time for worship and praying. But now Stephen’s conscience bothered him and his Christian principles he was raised with touched his heart. Something bothered him about the situation. Yes, he also wanted to be home with his wife and family for dinner time. But he thought about it. He could not stop thinking about the situation. He experienced a twinge of compassion for the girl whose fruit stand had been overturned. Although he had reached the boarding gate with the other salesmen, he could not board. He told the other men to go on without him. He waved good-bye and told one of them to call his wife when they arrived at their home destination and explain that he will be taking a later flight Then, he returned to the terminal where the fruit was still all over the terminal floor.
Stephen was glad he did. When he returned, he realized that the girl running the stand, Rose, was totally blind! She was having much difficulty gathering up the fruit herself. Rose was softly crying, tears running down her cheeks in sadness, all rushing crowd swirled about her, no one stopping and no one caring for her plight.
No one else, that is, except Stephen. The salesman knelt on the floor with her, gathered up the fruit, put them back on the table and helped organize her display. As he did this, he noticed that many of them had become battered and bruised. These he set aside in another basket.
When he had finished, he pulled out his wallet and said to the Rose, “Here, please take this $40 for the damage we did. Are you okay?” She nodded through her tears. “I hope we didn’t spoil your day too badly,” he said. Rose smiled. She thanked him from the bottom of her heart, gave him a pamphlet and said, “God bless you.”
As Stephen started to walk away, Rose called out to him, “Mister…” He paused and turned to look back into those blind eyes. She continued, “Are you Jesus? Or one of His Angels?”
“No,” Stephen replied hesitatingly, embarassed.. “I…. I am just a common salesman.”
“You must be one of His true followers at least—a true Christian. What church do you attend? It must be filled with wonderful people like you.”
Stephen was stunned by her words. He did not know what to respond. He felt sorry for Rose being blind and his first thought was to ask Rose about her own life. Rose happily told him of her own experience with Jesus and how she was born blind, and how good her life was with Jesus. His own eyes now filled with tears as he thought back to his own life in the past four years. How happy this young woman was and how ungrateful he had been to all the good things Jesus had done for, and given to, him. He was more glad now that he had stopped to help Rose. He right then and there opened his heart and told his life story to Rose and in the end thanked her for listening to him. He said that she was more of a help to him, than he had been to her. He had helped her with her physical needs, but she had helped him with his spiritual needs. He then had a prayer together with Rose and went on his way to find another flight.
As Stephen walked away, he kept on praying. He had not prayed in four years and now he felt a calm peaceful trust in God as he continued to commune with his heavenly Father. At that moment, he made a decision to return to his former commitment to Jesus. He continued to pray, to have worship with his family and became a prominent member of his church once more. He was thankful that the Lord stopped him in the airport to help Little Rose. Her faith in Jesus, her happy demeanor, regardless of her ailment had reached the depths of Stephen’s heart. Rose will now have another star in her crown for helping Stephen to find his way back to Jesus.
“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Matthew 25:40. “Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” 1 Peter 3:15
You have been blessed to be able to see. Your eyes are good. But you too can be like Rose in that you can carry some Christian pamphlets with you at all times and give them out to others as the Lord directs. And also be ready to share your faith as often as the opportunity presents itself. Then you will have also many stars in your crown, and will have the smile of Jesus upon you.