“You Need a Home, and I Need a Mommy,” Said the Little Girl to the Young Homeless Woman at the Bus…

A Choice of Compassion

“Lucy,” the girl said. “My mommy went to heaven; daddy says she’s an angel now.”

“Are you an angel?”

“No baby i’m just someone who made some mistakes.”

Lucy reached out and touched Margaret’s cheek with surprising gentleness. “Daddy says everyone makes mistakes; that’s why we need love.”

The man finally approached. He was perhaps 40 with kind eyes that held deep sadness.

He knelt beside his daughter. “I’m sorry,” he said to Margaret.

“Lucy has a way of finding people who need help.” “I’m Daniel Hayes.”

Margaret started to apologize to explain she didn’t want to bother them. But Daniel held up his hand.

“My daughter’s right,” he said quietly. “You need shelter and we have an extra room.”

“My wife passed 6 months ago; the house feels too empty,” he paused.

“I’m not making promises beyond tonight, but no one should be out here in this cold.”

“If you’d like a warm meal and a safe place to sleep the offer stands.”

Margaret had learned to be wary. The streets taught hard lessons about trust.

But something in Daniel’s eyes and in Lucy’s innocent faith felt genuine. “I don’t want charity,” she managed.

“It’s not charity,” Daniel said. “It’s humanity; someone helped me once when I needed it.”

“I’m just passing it forward.”

Lucy took Margaret’s hand. “Please come home with us; it’s Christmas soon and Santa brings presents to people who have homes.”

Margaret looked at this little girl in her grey knitted cap offering unconditional acceptance. She looked at this father extending kindness without judgment.

Something broke open inside her chest, some frozen place she’d thought dead. “Okay,” she whispered, “just for tonight.”