Money A Blessing Or a Curse

I place before you a blessing or a curse.... I traveled to VA this past Friday, took a train. This train station being notorious for its panhandlers, I normally keep a few dollar bills in my pocket to "give" out when approached. It was crowded in the station on this day, and I was an hour early so I decided to stand knowing that I would be seated on the train for some time. I noticed a woman with a red shirt on. She was "working the crowd" for money. I also noticed she went to every phone looking for spare change...I did see that she was getting a dollar here and some change there from people...but this woman was savvy. When the port authority cops came anywhere near her, she tired to blend in as not to get a ticket for panhandling. I saw that she was heading my way, so I took one of my "dollars" out of my pocket. I was ready to give it to her when she approached.

Now I need to step back here to when I prepared to come to the train station on this morning. I am fasting so food is not an issue, but I packed three bottles of water as not to have to pay $2 per bottle at the station or on the train.

Now back to this lady...She comes up to me and does not ask for money. She looks at me and says she is hungry, she is just so hungry, she is in pain, she is so hungry, she is homeless and has not eaten, please would I feed her... Instantly, my mind goes back to a locution I had a week before and now this woman is saying the words I heard in the locution.

Then I think she wants me to feed her! We are at the train station. That is going to cost big bucks to feed her, not just a dollar...Everything here is so expensive...That is why I brought my own water! Then I have a locution. The word sent to me is "I place before you a blessing or a curse". I try to dismiss it and give her a dollar, and she repeats, "Please feed me, I am so hungry!" I then ask her what she wants. She points to a sub sandwich with a salad and a snack or maybe a pizza. Now I am thinking, you got to be kidding me! Everyone else got away with giving her a quarter or a dollar and now I am to feed her, when I do not eat myself? I have to buy her food from this expensive place?! Again I hear..."I place before you a blessing or a curse"..

So now I try to negotiate with this woman saying, "Is there anything I can get you that is less expensive?" She says no, she is very hungry. Then she points to rice, meatballs and a full meal... At this point we are drawing a crowd. People seem interested in what I will do with this lady... And I am thinking. This woman is definitely a curse right now! She will not leave me alone. She is dogging me ...Yet my heart goes out to her, and I buy her a pizza. As we wait for it to be done, she says to me, I really need a drink with that....so I end up buying her a speciality drink that she picks out. All the while, I have three bottles of water from my home as not to buy the expensive drinks at the train station.

After this, there is still time before my train. So now I am watching this woman who I just purchased a meal for. She eats her food and then goes back to her panhandling and I see everyone is getting off with just giving her quarters and dollars again.

On this day I was going to buy lottery tickets with the money that was used to feed this woman...I do not know if I was scammed or not by this woman. That is not my call to make..my call was she said she was hungry, she came to me for help, and I was to help her no matter what it cost me. Money is not given to us for our pleasure, it is given for our need and to help others. Even when it is "hard earned" money it is a gift. As in all good gifts, it needs to be shared. So money is a blessing and a curse if it is used poorly or if you use it only for yourself...money is a gift. The using of it will stand before you at the throne of God....