Two (2) Kind

 “Doing good and sharing with others pleases God." ~ Hebrews 13:16

Retirement was never an option for Daniel and Kathleen.  It wasn't that they never worked.  The two worked so hard sometimes they wondered if their love for each other even mattered.

And it wasn’t as if they never saved.  They did!  They tried to put a little something aside every month ...  until tragedy struck. 

On her way to school one morning, their daughter Raina was hit by a car and suffered traumatic brain damage.   Recovery, both gradual and challenging, had no clear endpoint.  As she began to slowly progress, her deficits became more apparent.

Everything she had learned since pre-K was gone.  At fifteen, she needed physiotherapy, speech therapy, intensive lessons from specialists – and that was just the basics.  The list of recommended treatments went on for pages.  After her hospital discharge nothing was free.

So, when a friend sent Daniel a restaurant gift card captioned “Just Because!” they picked a beautiful fall afternoon to use it.  It felt so good, so normal, so humbling taking his wife to a nice sit-down restaurant instead of the fast food places they usually only had time for.  The meal was delicious.  Spending alone time with Kathleen felt like fresh, new love - no filter, no expectations, only acceptance.

When the waitress brought the check, Daniel looked down at it.  The gift card covered almost all of it.  Reaching into his wallet to get enough cash to cover the rest, he pulled out two bills.  The first would cover the rest of the bill and give the waitress a generous tip.  The second was much larger; meant for emergencies.

His mind immediately flashed back 30 years.  He worked as a busboy in a restaurant much like this one – long hours, low pay, no benefits.  Great for the owner – Daniel was a bargain.

He remembered how he often saw the waitresses counting their meager tips; worrying about how they were going to pay the rent and buy their kids the things they needed.  He remembered the pain in their eyes and saw the sadness in their faces at the end of the day.

Daniel smiled, picked out the much larger bill, folded it around the gift card and left it with the check on the table.   He left the table with a smile and a happy heart.

We are all one family in this world.  We are all children of the same God.  We live together, rejoice together, and suffer together. 

As John Wesley said, “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can… especially in these difficult times of short tempers.

Almighty Father, in this time of national upheaval, outrage, and fear, help us as individuals, congregations and communities to act as You acted on earth: kind, humble compassionate and always seeking ways to help others.  Amen