kindness remembered

[MissCris]

When I was little, I think about 7 years old, and my little brother was 5, we went to the store with my mom one day. As we were walking from the door to the produce aisle, my brother and I stopped to look at a huge Easter candy display. There was a big bin full of bags of jelly beans. I noticed that there were also some jelly beans just floating around loose in there; must've been a broken bag or two.

In my 7 year old brain, that seemed like free candy. So I took a couple of the jelly beans and put them in my pocket. My brother followed my example, and then we ran to catch up with our mom, who hadn't yet noticed we weren't right behind her.

On our way out of the store, one of the employees- a manager- stopped my mom. They had a whispered conversation a few feet away, and I watched my mom's face go from confused to angry. They talked a little more, and then the manager left my mom to come over to my brother and me.

She knelt down in front of us, and she said, "If you tell me what you have in your pocket, and give it back, I will trade you a quarter for it."

I knew I was in trouble then. I didn't want to tell her I had the jelly beans, and I thought about saying there wasn't anything in my pocket.

But I really wanted that quarter!

So I mumbled something about the jelly beans and the candy display and handed over the candy. My brother did the same thing. The lady took them, and then handed each of us a shiny quarter. Then she said, "People who are good and honest get rewards. If you had lied, you wouldn't have gotten anything but trouble. Do you understand?"

We both stared at her wide eyed, nodding our heads.

Sometimes kindness is nothing more than a valuable lesson.

 

[seoulsearch]

There is no possible way I can compete with the stories here, especially Grace's "My tires kept shredding and God kept sending me people" classic, but these are two incidences in my life that are very important to me.

When I was about 18, I sent away for my adoption file. While there was no information about my history, I did find out that a foster couple had taken me in for a few months. The social worker had written, "They are very affectionate with her, especially the foster father. He obviously loves this baby very much." It literally gave me chills that people on the other side of the world (especially in a culture that does NOT accept abandoned children) felt attached to me, literally at first sight, for no apparent reason except that God introduced us. (Years later when I visited my orphanage when I was 20, a baby girl about the same age as me when I was adopted--9 months--felt that same attachment to me and started crying hysterically when I had to leave... and it totally broke my heart. I asked about sponsoring her but happily, she was in the process of being adopted.)

A little later in life, when I was about 9, I went to a church summer camp regularly for the next several years. There was a particular counselor whom I'll call James and for some unknown reason, he seemed to take me under his wing. James was THE most popular guy in the entire camp--the girls all wanted to date him and the guys all wanted to be him, and his brother was almost as popular.

To this day I have no idea why, but James treated me as a favorite every year I went to camp. He'd invite me to sit at the counselor's table, volunteered to be my partner in many of the games, and if he wasn't available, he made sure his brother chose me to be on his team. It was NOT at all creepy by any means, and he was NEVER inappropriate. It was just kind of like when a teacher sees a child they feel a special attachment to and do whatever they can to make that child feel welcome.

When I became an adult, I saw those events as it having been a very kind older guy who saw a very awkward little girl and for whatever reason, paid special attention to her even though some of the other kids made fun of her. I was really shocked at the time because there was another girl who was a teen model (she was so pretty that the boys would literally hide behind corners and take pictures of her) and I thought for sure she would be the one invited to sit with him, but he always asked me.

I found him years later on Facebook and wrote him a message to thank him. He now has a family with kids who are my age when I met him. I could tell from his reply... How awkward it must have been in a way to hear from me as an adult. The last time he'd talked to me, I was about 12 and he was 20. Now I was around 30 and he was 38. He told me he was proud of the person I had become, but I had to smile, because I know he was still seeing me as that 12-year-old girl. You could tell that he couldn't even really see me as an adult.

But even now, thinking back to how he had made me feel included still makes me feel special. And I'm grateful that I was able to tell him how much of a difference his small acts of kindness made... and will stay with me for the rest of my life.

 

[Grace-Like-Rain]

There is no possible way I can compete with the stories here, especially Grace's "My tires kept shredding and God kept sending me people" classic, but these are two incidences in my life that are very important to me.

When I was about 18, I sent away for my adoption file. While there was no information about my history, I did find out that a foster couple had taken me in for a few months. The social worker had written, "They are very affectionate with her, especially the foster father. He obviously loves this baby very much." It literally gave me chills that people on the other side of the world (especially in a culture that does NOT accept abandoned children) felt attached to me, literally at first sight, for no apparent reason except that God introduced us. (Years later when I visited my orphanage when I was 20, a baby girl about the same age as me when I was adopted--9 months--felt that same attachment to me and started crying hysterically when I had to leave... and it totally broke my heart. I asked about sponsoring her but happily, she was in the process of being adopted.)

A little later in life, when I was about 9, I went to a church summer camp regularly for the next several years. There was a particular counselor whom I'll call James and for some unknown reason, he seemed to take me under his wing. James was THE most popular guy in the entire camp--the girls all wanted to date him and the guys all wanted to be him, and his brother was almost as popular.

To this day I have no idea why, but James treated me as a favorite every year I went to camp. He'd invite me to sit at the counselor's table, volunteered to be my partner in many of the games, and if he wasn't available, he made sure his brother chose me to be on his team. It was NOT at all creepy by any means, and he was NEVER inappropriate. It was just kind of like when a teacher sees a child they feel a special attachment to and do whatever they can to make that child feel welcome.

When I became an adult, I saw those events as it having been a very kind older guy who saw a very awkward little girl and for whatever reason, paid special attention to her even though some of the other kids made fun of her. I was really shocked at the time because there was another girl who was a teen model (she was so pretty that the boys would literally hide behind corners and take pictures of her) and I thought for sure she would be the one invited to sit with him, but he always asked me.

I found him years later on Facebook and wrote him a message to thank him. He now has a family with kids who are my age when I met him. I could tell from his reply... How awkward it must have been in a way to hear from me as an adult. The last time he'd talked to me, I was about 12 and he was 20. Now I was around 30 and he was 38. He told me he was proud of the person I had become, but I had to smile, because I know he was still seeing me as that 12-year-old girl. You could tell that he couldn't even really see me as an adult.

But even now, thinking back to how he had made me feel included still makes me feel special. And I'm grateful that I was able to tell him how much of a difference his small acts of kindness made... and will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Seoul, I love both of these stories... it melts my heart to think of a foster father becoming so attached to you, and giving you that hugely important affection as an infant. It's so amazing to think of how God cares for us at every stage of our lives, and even as babies he is watching us and making sure we have what we need.

And the camp guy... I'm so glad you wrote him later to tell him what that meant to you. We need to know how the things we do effect others in positive ways. If we knew maybe we'd make more of an effort to do them. Sweet memories!

 

[MissCris]

I just had a conversation about this with my step-dad and figured I'd post it...because it was the turning point for me and my step-dad's relationship.

When I was 16, I had a long-distance boyfriend (he's the guy I ended up marrying at 17). This meant a LOT of time on the phone, and my parents didn't have free long-distance calling or anything. So, over the course of a month, I managed to run up the phone bill to over $300. And I was in MAJOR. TROUBLE.

This happened at the beginning of summer, and I had just started my first job as a housekeeper in order to earn some money for a vacation I was taking with my mom, aunt, and grandma in the fall. I wasn't going to have to pay my way, I just wanted plenty of spending money. So I took this job earning $4/hr.

When my step-dad saw the huge phone bill, he didn't yell or anything, but he came to me and told me that I would have to pay that money to him over the course of the summer. I threw an epic teenage hissy fit about it, telling him that would take forever on 4 bucks an hour, and that I wouldn't have any money for the vacation, and he said, "Well, you can pay the $300, or you can be grounded- meaning you go NOWHERE except school and don't get to use the phone AT ALL for one full year. You choose."

I decided I'd better pay the money back.

And it did take all summer. I did a few extra jobs for people, cleaning up their yards or whatever, to try to pay it faster and hopefully manage to scrape a little bit of spending money together.

By the morning we were to hit the road in mid September, I had given the full 300 to my step-dad. I watched him tuck it into an envelope and put it in his pocket. I went and counted the rest of the money I'd saved, and I had 20 bucks to take for the full two weeks of vacation, and I was really bummed out. But I finished packing, and put my things in the car, and when everybody was loaded up, my step-dad came out to say goodbye. And he tapped on my window, and I cracked it just enough to hear him, and he didn't say anything at all, but he slipped the envelope through, and motioned for me to roll up my window.

I never told him 'thank you' until just yesterday, when I was talking to him. He said, "Welp, you needed that money more than I did. You had to buy chocolate, or shoes, or whatever girls buy."

 

[Grace-Like-Rain]

I just had a conversation about this with my step-dad and figured I'd post it...because it was the turning point for me and my step-dad's relationship.

When I was 16, I had a long-distance boyfriend (he's the guy I ended up marrying at 17). This meant a LOT of time on the phone, and my parents didn't have free long-distance calling or anything. So, over the course of a month, I managed to run up the phone bill to over $300. And I was in MAJOR. TROUBLE.

This happened at the beginning of summer, and I had just started my first job as a housekeeper in order to earn some money for a vacation I was taking with my mom, aunt, and grandma in the fall. I wasn't going to have to pay my way, I just wanted plenty of spending money. So I took this job earning $4/hr.

When my step-dad saw the huge phone bill, he didn't yell or anything, but he came to me and told me that I would have to pay that money to him over the course of the summer. I threw an epic teenage hissy fit about it, telling him that would take forever on 4 bucks an hour, and that I wouldn't have any money for the vacation, and he said, "Well, you can pay the $300, or you can be grounded- meaning you go NOWHERE except school and don't get to use the phone AT ALL for one full year. You choose."

I decided I'd better pay the money back.

And it did take all summer. I did a few extra jobs for people, cleaning up their yards or whatever, to try to pay it faster and hopefully manage to scrape a little bit of spending money together.

By the morning we were to hit the road in mid September, I had given the full 300 to my step-dad. I watched him tuck it into an envelope and put it in his pocket. I went and counted the rest of the money I'd saved, and I had 20 bucks to take for the full two weeks of vacation, and I was really bummed out. But I finished packing, and put my things in the car, and when everybody was loaded up, my step-dad came out to say goodbye. And he tapped on my window, and I cracked it just enough to hear him, and he didn't say anything at all, but he slipped the envelope through, and motioned for me to roll up my window.

I never told him 'thank you' until just yesterday, when I was talking to him. He said, "Welp, you needed that money more than I did. You had to buy chocolate, or shoes, or whatever girls buy."

That is the sweetest thing ever... I love your stepdad.

 

[PopClick]

The cool thing is that we can still ask God to touch someone's life wherever they may be when we do that.

You know what? I've done that! But I still wish...
At the time, I just wanted to get out of there. But later I wondered how I could do something like that. I'm not always ungrateful... I just act like it sometimes. :O



This thread touches on something that's been on my mind for a while... how most of the beautiful memories that have been shared here wouldn't have existed at all, if it weren't for ugliness, fear, poverty, despair, etc. There IS beauty in the midst of almost everything, and it always does us good to focus on it.

 

[Jullianna]

This thread touches on something that's been on my mind for a while... how most of the beautiful memories that have been shared here wouldn't have existed at all, if it weren't for ugliness, fear, poverty, despair, etc. There IS beauty in the midst of almost everything, and it always does us good to focus on it.

We see what we choose to see, don't we? *hugs*

 

[kenthomas27]

When I was a teenager I did some things I shouldn't have and, living in a smaller town, the local county police knew several of us kids and a few of us sadly earned a reputation with them. But on a particular night several weeks after I had recommitted myself to God (this in itself is another story), some people had asked me if I would like to join their church (it was a Protestant church) and their choir. I entertained the idea because the people there were so friendly and accepting and so I went to their choir practice and sat in and got to know a few people. It was fun and besides that, to be honest, I had interest in a young girl that was in the choir (so I can't take any credit for being in this church to serve God in a righteous way).

When I went home that night, all of a sudden there was a floppity flop flop of a tire. I pulled into another church that was near there and parked in the parking lot. Right when I stopped, a county police car's lights came on as he pulled in behind me. He knew me by name and asked what I was doing there and I told him it was because of the flat. Then I remember this whole conversation which went something like this:

Take your hands outta your pockets
Yes sir, I said
(looks over at my tire and sees that its flat)
We've had some things go missing in these churches in the past few weeks.
Yes sir, I said
Where were you going tonight?
Home sir
Where you coming from?
Church sir (and a little tiny smile cuz I couldn't help it)
Church. What church?
The 1st Baptist church sir
I told you to keep your hands outta your pockets. What were you doing at the Baptist church?
I was at choir practice sir (this time a full on grin)
Do you think that's funny son?
Well, yes sir I do. I mean, a couple of weeks ago I'd have told you the same thing only I would've been lying. But today it's the truth! I was really at choir practice at the Baptist church! (shaking my head now)

After a little bit of "verifying" the trooper looked at me with this half smile and said

You got a spare for that thing?

I didn't have a spare and he helped me get the tire off and then took me over to a garage to get it fixed and waited around and took me back to the church and then helped me put it back on and I never forgot his kindness nor how good the truth felt just then.

 

[Misty77]

I'm a single mom, and I have a lot of debt from my divorce 3 years ago. It seems like EVERYTHING has decided to break at the same time. (Et tu, toaster?) My washing machine flooded my garage almost 2 months ago, so I have been bringing my laundry with me on family visits. It still works, it just doesn't keep the water on the inside, which is a bit of a problem.

A really sweet couple at my aunt's church own storage units. After 6 months of not receiving payment from the owners, Jerry gets possession of the contents. This time, he decided to haul it all to their church for a HUGE garage sale to raise money for the youth and missions. I asked Jerry how much he wanted for the washing machine; and since my broken washer is part of a stacked unit, I went ahead and inquired about the dryer, too.

"Since you're uncle is a fine man, I'll give them to you for $100," was his response.

That was a great deal, even if it did require a cash advance. The Whirlpool washing machine and dryer were barely used. For $10 more, I got a couple of other things that I actually needed—including a toaster and a plumbing snake for my kitchen sink (another long story which still isn't over). After working out delivery of the items, I gave him a check last night and loaded the small items into my little hatchback.

My aunt volunteered at the sale today and gave Jerry a teary hug for helping out her niece, recognizing the struggle that we're going through right now. That's when Jerry told her, "I already tore that check up. The Lord just impressed on me that I needed to be extra nice to her. Tell her we're praying for her."

My aunt called me at work to tell me what happened, and I just started bawling. I'm so thankful God (and Jerry) miraculously provided what my son and I needed.