A Few Thoughts From A Real Diver……..Dumpster Diver That Is – by Stuart Segall
In my world, I do volunteer work with people who are in nursing, care homes and other residences. I visit people who simply lack company or get very little of it. When I do, I listen to their stories of days gone by. Seniors, like all of us, love to tell their old stories. Often, they like to be read to. There are far more people than hours in the day so when I need to exit, I leave them beautiful flowers. I grow all I can, lots of roses, forty-seven bushes and counting. In the winter I do janitor work for a long-time business friend who owns three flower shops. Friday, she cleans out her flower inventory and gives me an abundance of flowers to do my bit of magic.
Well, this Friday, I was late. The florist was thinking I was not coming, so all the flowers were put in the dumpster. I have been dumpster diving for about 7 years now at the very fragrant flower dumpster when I run out of flowers and need to restock before my next barter. I go into the big green container and look for salvageable treasures. So, on this Friday I needed to go retrieve them. Up the ladder and down the can I went. And you thought all along that flower arranging was all glam? My first inhale reminded it is not, and then I went from Clark Kent to Superman. Well, no, more like Stuart The Segall to a Golden Flower Retriever.
There I am standing inside it, when this much older man comes up the ladder, looks down from the top and sees me there. He looks like Chauncy Gardner (Peter Sellers) from the movie “Being There”. He asks me “How did you find yourself down there?” He continued in this vein asking, “What are your prospects for being able to leave the dumpster?” This question was pertinent since the ladder was on the outside and I was on the inside.
He also made inquiries around what I would be doing next and what would my plans be once I was out of the dumpster. (This might be the most philosophical dumpster conversation I’ve ever had.)
I share this with you because his numerous inquiries revealed a lonely man who simply wanted to engage. I offered him flowers to take to a loved one. That would be a quick and easy way to go back to my busy work being a good retriever! “I live in a tiny camp trailer with a cat,” he replied.
I realized then he did not need the quick and easy gift but the harder one, time, an attentive ear.
It would have been easy for me to blow this opportunity under the excuse of “I am already late, I am really busy doing other work.” Thankfully I got it, I saw the real need or thirst he had. He told me his life story … as if it had been a long time since he got to tell it. Interesting for sure but like us all, he was telling me the story of a time when he was significant. Like most of us, this is what we search for.
He expressed his sincere gratitude for the unexpected gift. Then, he walked away and expressed hope that the “talking dumpster” would be experienced again. As he departed, I felt a tear well in my eye. I felt a slight but real sadness, but a blessing too. We never know when a Chauncy Gardner might appear, needing a little of our time.
For that one moment, I was again reminded of pure religion. James 1:27 “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.” (NKJV)
The gentleman is an orphan, a senior one, but an orphan none the less. This gentleman was the recipient of my grace but as you know, at that moment in time, I was simply a purveyor of His grace.
Matthew 25:40 states “And the King will answer and say to them, assuredly, as I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”
May this encourage you to keep your eyes, ears, and hearts open in the most unlikely of places.
Stuart Segall lives about an hour north of Seattle. He has spent most of his adult life counseling, encouraging, inspiring and uplifting others.
Plain Truth Ministries | Box 300 | Pasadena, CA 91129-0300
