Today, more than anything else, I'm grateful to have food in the house. My husband had an appointment at a church that offers legal services yesterday, and they also have a very large food pantry. While we have food in the cupboard, it's not enough to make it past the weekend, and we agreed that he would visit the legal help department while I would wait in line at the food pantry section.
That is, until we got there. There was a sign at the door, and a man who was turning people away who had come for food. They didn't have enough to meet the demand. He offered me an emergency bag - a small grocery bag with eggs and a couple canned goods - but I turned him down, told him to give it to people who were worse off than I am.
As I sat in the waiting room with my husband, I watched people get turned away. Old people. Homeless people. Families with young children. One woman hung her head and walked away with the emergency bag while her child sobbed "I'm hungry, mama!" while holding her stomach.
So today I am grateful - so grateful - that we have food in the cupboard, and that it will last until payday even though it won't last much afterward. I'm thankful that I don't have to hear my children crying in hunger tonight.
And I'm wishing I could bring that young mother and her hungry child out of the cold and give them oatmeal for breakfast, and soup with bread for lunch, and the biggest pasta dinner I can manage for supper. Because hearing that little girl crying tore my heart.
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