A Lily of the Field

Sean Thornton believes there are moments when the presence of Christ is revealed in our actions. The moments appear as opportunities to help others. We respond or we don’t. Either way, once the moment passes, it is gone forever. What is left is a glimpse into who we are.

When the husband of a neighbor dies, the neighbor’s expressed grief reveals an immediate concern about burial expenses. A moment at hand, Sean launches his eighty-year-old body into action. In will-sapping heat, he informs almost one hundred neighbors of the widow’s plight.

Along the route that exposes his increasing frailties, Sean rests three times. Briefly napping with each break, he dreams of other occasions in his life when a moment presented and he reached to help someone. The revelations speak to the person he’s tried to be.