For Christmas as a teenager I would volunteer at our church to deliver fruit baskets to the elderly and shut-ins. The recipients were grateful and friendly. We spent time visiting with them and hearing their interesting stories.

One stop brought us to a nursing home. Two of the crew went in while we stayed in the van. Old faces appeared in the glass doors of the home. First there were one or two interested parties. But soon there were more.

They emerged through the doors. Like a zombie movie the seasoned citizens made their way steadily towards the van shuffling their feet slowly but with purpose. “Lock the doors!” somebody exclaimed. When the old timers reached the van, they grabbed the door handles and tried to get in. Then somebody up front rolled down a window and shouted “Go back inside!” A look of disappointment swept over their faces. They quietly crept back inside to the warmth of the home.

I didn’t realize until years later that our church van looked like the van that the home used to transport the folks to the pharmacy. For some of them it may have been their periodic escape from the comfortable but too familiar surroundings to a new and different environment. Or maybe they just wanted to get more drugs. I’m not proud that we disappointed some seniors that day. But there is a life lesson here: sometimes our assumptions are wrong but we won’t know unless we try.

photo credit: Ethan Prater