© Danise Codekas 2008 (re-edited 2012)
http://www.danisespeaks.blogspot.com
“Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. “ ~Og Mandino
Sometimes we are asked to re-arrange our lives, our homes, our work. Challenges are arriving everyday for many of my friends. Watching them wrestle with these events show me how important it is to maintain balance in my life.
There are days when I awake and the first thing I do is run into the kitchen and prepare the cappuccino maker for that first cup coffee. The other morning I realized I needed to stay in bed a few more minutes and tell the universe how grateful I was for the gas heat, down comforter and lovely bed I was in.
“You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you. “ ~John Wooden
I also needed to send some requests out that people I love and care for receive blessings and care during their day. I was full of gratitude for the little things I have like a car and a job and kind people that I work with everyday.
Then I was grateful I could get off the bed. I am healthy, alive. Had enough money in the bank to feed myself, put gas in the car, and keep the internet pulsing through the wires. Gratitude begets gratitude begets changes in my actions towards friends, family and strangers.
Yesterday, I was standing in line at the mini-Mart. There were 2 soldiers in front of me. The soldier whose items were being totaled by the cashier realized he did not have his wallet with him. He did those things we all do whenever we cannot find wallet or keys. Every pocket gone through, slapping pockets to see if there were something in them and the concern on his face that told him, the wallet was not on him.
I knew he was getting food to take on his long day, in field exercises, or maybe just sitting in a tank, on patrol practice. More than that, his concern brought a remembrance to me of a past kindness by a total stranger when I had lost my wallet, on a roadway, 150 miles from home, outside Leavenworth, WA. The wallet showed up, via Fed Ex, the next day, with a note from a kind stranger, and this poem by Henry Burton, paraphrases the note, accompanying, my returned wallet.
Pass it on;
'Twas not given for thee alone,
Pass it on;
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another's tears,
'Til in Heaven the deed appears -
Pass it on.
~Henry Burton, Pass It On
Back at the mini-mart, I could feel the impatience of the other people in line behind me. I said to the soldier, "How much do you owe?" He said, "About four dollars". Then I said to the cashier, "I'll take car of that for him." You could hear a pin drop, as everyone in line went silent.
The cashier could not understand what had happened, as she held out her hand, and I placed a ten dollar bill in it. Everyone realized that an act of kindness was in motion, and they were witness to a very unusual event. Me? I just felt that I had done the right thing.
The soldier looked at me and I knew he was struggling for the words to thank me. So, I just said to him, "Pass it on." He smiled and said, "Thank you, Mam, I WILL."
When I left the mini-mart I checked in with myself and I was happy to help a stranger. I was given an opportunity to help someone and I acted on it.
A few years earlier, I might have been one of the impatient people in line, mentally calling him an idiot. Maybe not. It was a good day for me and I hope a good day for everyone who witnessed a stranger helping a stranger.
“A bit of fragrance always clings to the hand that gives roses.” ~Chinese ProverbMaybe, all the challenges friends and family are experiencing now will be helped by strangers. You never know where help comes from and the urge to help is Grace Unexpected. That is my take on kind interventions and miraculous surprises, for me. How about you?
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” ~Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama
