If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them “goodbye and good luck, keep warm and well fed” but do not give them the necessity of the body, what good is it? James 2:16-17
They always come on Sunday afternoon
the stranded couple looking for a bed
or the woman on the run with her hungry son.
They always come when the shelters are closed.
And I always wonder if I’m being conned.
The whole time the words of James are in my head,
“goodbye and good luck, keep warm and well fed.”
I listen and give them a compromise
between what they want and what I’ve got
between being generous and streetwise.
I don’t want James to become a rebuke.
Always I give them something, otherwise,
the scold will come as I get into bed
“goodbye and good luck, keep warm and well fed.”
©️Holy Poetry
Goodbye and Good Luck