giving from the heart

I love spending time with my ten year old nephew. He is one of the most amazing children i have ever had the pleasure of being around. He gives me so much each time i see him. The gift of laughter and love.. are two of the main gifts and the most important things in life.

He spent the night with me and my sweetheart (tim) on Saturday night. Tim had to work until 10:30pm so it was just me and my nephew. We had gone to a local grocery store.  We only had a few things to pick up. We got what we needed and we went to get into line. The store was pretty much empty of customers, except for a young woman who was in line in front of us. She was pregnant and she looked so tired. I could just feel how worn out she was. She had a precious little girl in the cart that was smiling and making faces at me and my nephew. She threw her little stuffed bunny rabbit toy on the floor and i picked it up and gave it back.

Her mother had a small cart of groceries. I normally dont pay attention to other peoples carts because to be honest.. its not my business what people get. But it seemed like every item she put up there took a effort.

So i said "here let me help you.. it looks like you have your hands full"

she gave me a tired smile and said "thank you"

so she had fresh fruits and some chicken , oatmeal and milk. Some wheat bread and some frozen veggies.  not a great deal, but all pretty healthy items. The little girl kept trying to get the bananas and made my nephew giggle.

The cashier  rang the items up and told the woman her total was 31 dollars. She slid a debt card through and it was declined. I tried to not pay attention because i know that moment. As a child.. my mom struggled to sometimes buy food and essential items.

The lady then started going through her purse and she only had four dollars.  She had tears streaming down her face.  she started looking at the items and trying to figure what she could afford.

I asked the cashier how much the total was. She told me and i said, i will take care of that. the woman looked at me and said she could never let me do that.

I said i want to do this. Please let me.

She asked if she could at least give me the four dollars she had and she would the money to the store manager to pay me back and i could come up and get it.

I told her that she needs to keep the four dollars in case she needed something else. I said i am blessed at this time in my life and i like to bless others. All i ask is that she stop worrying and that i know things will be ok for her. I asked her when she was able.. even if its 20 years from now.. to pay it forward to someone else who needed help.

I then handed the cashier the money. I gave her 40.00 and told her to give the change to the young woman.

The woman then gave me a hug.. and told me that what i had done was the most amazing thing anyone has ever done. I told her that i would be praying for her and her babies and that things are going to get better.

After she left the cashier was just giving me this look. She said why would you do that?

Because I love to give to others. It warms my heart and soul . there was a time when others gave to my family and now i give as a way to pay it forward.

My nephew thought it was pretty cool. He said to me wasn't that the money you were saving to buy a mattress bad for your bed. I told him yes.. but this young lady needed the money more than i did. I said my back can handle  the hard bed a bit longer, but that poor woman needed food to nourish her babies and her self.

He said that it was pretty cool.

I gave from my heart.. not because i wanted something in return. but because someone needed help right then. But what i got in return was a feeling of happiness and peace. I felt this love streaming through me. Each day we are given the chance to help someone .. to give of ourselves. Each time we step up and say yes, there is an amazing ripple effect that happens. We make the world a better place. We give someone a chance. We let others know that LOVE does exist and that nothing is impossible.