Real Hope: All InSample

Selfless Or Selfish

George had been standing at the busy intersection for a few minutes. He felt a tap on his shoulder. ‘Excuse me, I’m blind – would you mind guiding me across the road?’ the pedestrian asked.

George took the arm of the man, and they crossed the road together. What that man did not know was that his guide was one of the world’s finest jazz musicians with his own record label, regularly playing to packed venues around the United States and Europe. Oh, and George Shearing had been blind since birth. George was the youngest of nine children to working-class parents: his mother was a train carriage cleaner, and father delivered coal to provide for their family. Selflessness was part of his DNA.

Shearing later recounted, ‘What else could I do? I took him across the road, and it was the biggest thrill of my life.’ Biggest thrill? For a man who had achieved so much? George Shearing’s most satisfying moment came when he found himself serving another with all he had. Was this a foolhardy act on his part, or an act of selfless generosity?

I’m reminded of the story of the Mary (Mark 14:8) who was harshly judged after pouring expensive perfume over Jesus. While the disciples murmured about the waste and condemned her largess, Jesus saw an act of undiluted, selfless love. He saw Mary’s gift not as impetuous or reckless, but as an act of unrestrained adoration, absent of the shackles of fear or self-preservation.

To give ‘all we have’ is a challenge, isn’t it?

Written by DWAYNE JEFFRIES