I was attending classes at the University of North Alabama in February of 1994. Icy rain began to fall. The roads were developing sheets of ice. Traveling was becoming dangerous. It soon became obvious that this was going to be a serious weather condition. Schools across the area dismissed their students. Traveling home was treacherous. Tree limbs were breaking beneath heavy layers of ice. A young woman, recently crowned "Miss UNA", was critically injured when a limb fell on her car while trying to get home. She was in my class.
The event is now known as one of the worst ice storms in the South. It paralyzed the area. Few could even leave their homes or wherever they had been stranded. Power lines fell and utility workers were fighting the elements to restore critically needed electricity to the area. I knew several of these folks. They worked night and day around the clock for weeks. One of my friends shared with me different attitudes he encountered. People would come out onto their porches and scream across the street, "When are you going to get my power back on?" Some of them would even suggest that they intentionally had been left without power while others were "favored". My friend realized these were "customers", but he said these critics were behaving like spoiled children! Just when he had lost faith in "Southern Hospitality" and "The Golden Rule", some kind person would emerge from their cold, dark homes with a cake, a biscuit, or a cup of coffee! They would tell him how much they appreciated his hard work. His faith was restored!
When hard circumstances arise, our true hearts are revealed. Would we give "Cake" or "Criticism". Those who give "Cake" are able to go outside of themselves and see the plight others. They understand their suffering and feelings. Those who give "Criticism" are usually self-centered and can only see their own needs. Paul gave us this life principle in Romans 15:2 "Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification." Who will you "edify" today?