The Woman and the Scales

    Way back when I was still a 2nd year college student, I entered a screening to join our college newspaper. It was this story that got me in it and become not just a member, but the Associate Editor-in-Chief. It is a story that has a lesson I keep in my heart that I would like to share with you. Read on and I hope you will be touched.

Note: There were minor editions done.



    She was a woman of about 40, beaten by the springs and winters of her life. Plodding on the street, she looked up to the sky. Lazily, a snowflake fell on her tear-streaked face. Struggling to keep warm in her tattered coat, she walked on until she reached a grocery store she had never been to. A tear fell down her cheek as she slowly entered the store.
   
    She approached the counter, step by step, doubting if she could do it, but her desperation drove her now.
   
    Standing in front of the grocer now, she had to do it.

    "Excuse me sir, but may I do my grocery here on credit?"

    "I'm sorry, ma'am, but we only let long-time customers have credit accounts," the grocer replied.

    "Please sir, I will surely pay you/"

    "I'm really sorry, but I can't allow that. Now if you will, the front door is that way," he said, pointing towards the door.

    She was losing hope now and ready to leave, but the thought of her family, her two starving children, pushed her to try one last time.

    "Please, I beg of you! Can you make an exception? Please?"

    "Let her shop, put it on my tab," a man behind her said.

    She turned around and saw a tall, young professional. Tears filled her eyes as she whispered, "Thank you, thank you very much!"

    The young man tipped his hat at her, and walked out the door.

    The grocer, evidently irritated, replied, "Okay, but do you have a list?"

    "Yes, right here," she held up a piece of paper.

    "You can take as much as you want, as long as it weighs the same as your list," the grocer said, holding a pair of scales.

    "But that's just unfair!" She blurted out, her voice cracking.

    The grocer shrugged, "Take it or leave it."

    She cried out in despair. Taking a pen from her pocket, she wrote something on her list and put it on one side of the scale. Slowly the scale tipped, as the woman and the grocer looked, wide-eyed at the scales.

    Moving fast, she laid food on the other side of the scale. The scale didn't move. More items were piled, but the scales still did not balance.

    The grocer was bewildered, he was beside himself with shock. He swore and grabbed the list, reading what was written.

    On that piece of paper, he found a prayer. It said:

    "Dear Lord, only you know how much I really need this. I lift this up to you."

Only God knows how much a prayer weighs. God bless you.