A Heart that Listened...

I have been leading a small group of high school girls at my church this past year. We started out doing a study on dating and have since moved into going over passages of Scripture more. Sometimes I don't think I connect very well with the girls and what I am trying to teach them. I can get into kind of sermony mode cuz I just want them to get it so bad!!
I have to admit, last night, I didn't want to have Bible study. I was tired. I wanted to workout and go home. I was struggling with some of my own personal issues that made me not want to be around people. But I went because I knew how much they wanted to see each other and it had been about a month since we had been together. So I picked them all up and we had our usual Bible study at Starbucks.
There are several different personalities in this small group, all of which I love dearly. We have the "I really don't care if people think I'm odd and I say whatever comes to my mind and I struggle cuz I really like what the world offers", we have the "I'm smart and silly and trying to live the way God wants me too, but why isn't he giving me what I want", and we have the "I'm quiet and life has been hard and I just want to be a normal teenager girl, but life won't let me". So these personalities all come together one night a week and I try to share Christ with them.
Tonight we talked about taming the tongue and James 3. A convicting passage for all of us. It went well, but I think the main lesson of the night came on the ride home.
I drive all the girls home and this night was a particularly rainy night and a little bit cold. We always pass this McDonalds on the way to one of the girl's houses. It was 9:30pm and I was hungry, so I said to E., "Do you mind if we stop at McDonald's before I drop you off?" I wasn't really taking too much notice of the homeless man outside of McDonald's until E. said, "That's so sad." Now conversations about homeless people is something that has come up several times with these girls. Sometimes I have sensed a lack of understanding about the homeless and therefore a lack of compassion for them. I have tried to explain that we don't know the story of how the homeless person got there, is it so wrong to ask for food if you are hungry, etc. But tonite it was E. who taught me about homeless people.
E. is a highschool girl who had $2 on her. I was an adult with a paying job and a credit card who could have gotten food in 1/2 hour when I got home. But it was E. who said, "Can I buy him something and give it to him on our way back?" And my response was "Of course!" So she spent her $2 on two sandwiches. We walked over to him, her somewhat hesitantly, and she said, "here sir,I got you some sandwiches." And he looked at her in unbelief. He looked as if he might almost cry. He said, to her, "Thank you. Oh, God bless you. Can I give you a hug?" She looked at me, I nodded, and they had a short embrace before we left. When we got in the car, E. was elated and filled with joy at what had just taken place. I was so happy to see her so obedient to the Lord and so satisfied with the encounter He had given her.
It got me thinking though, who was more satisfied, me with my $3 value meal or E. with her widow's mite gift that had her shreaking with joy in my car? I think the answer is obvious. I hope the next time I have to choose between the satisfacation of McDonalds or the satisfaction of joy from serving Christ among us, I choose to have a heart that listens like E. did.