God In the Mundane

I did a good thing today.

Wait… before Judgy McJudgerson jumps off this article. Hear me out a sec…

I struggle to tell this story because I absolutely don’t want the focus to be on me or boast myself. Instead, I very much want to describe an interaction between two humans and a Higher Power. So… maybe I should start this out with “God did a good thing today?” but I also feel like that might have lost some of you, too.

There’s a human decision part here to act on the “voice of God” that I’m ultimately trying to get at. We could say I was moved to do a good thing today, or *We* did something good today, or something good happened today? … sigh… none the less,

Let me tell you what happened.

*kachunk* *kachunk* *kachunk*

A couple tables in front of me at a coffee shop in Savannah, an elderly man stood, hunched, sliding coins slowly into a cup — one by one from the edge of his table. Counting each as they hit the merely empty bottom.

It was maybe a few dollars at most.

There’s very little you can buy at a coffee shop these days with only a few dollars — certainly nothing of sustenance.

I looked down at my hearty meal and time suspended.

I feel very blessed to have the life I have. Yes, it came through hard work, determination, goals, and lots of time, but I couldn’t have done any of it without the presence of a Higher Power to guide and lift me through it. What I have is God’s, not mine. And because I do have, I feel compelled to give.

A friend told me one of Buddha’s teachings recently. Something to this effect:

If you feel the urge to do good, you should do it and not hesitate, because it is by prolonging doing good that we often end up reducing what we would have done or not doing it at all.

I felt the urge. I also felt the thoughts of resistance.

When I came back to, this man had already made it to the counter to order. I ran up and cut the line. I placed a sum of money on the counter and I told him to buy whatever he would like.

“What? I can’t do that.”

“Please. Really, please, it’s my pleasure.”

Silence.

The cashier stared back and forth between the two of us — a look of shock and confusion on her face.

To exit the conversation, I smiled and nervously said, “…just pay it forward, and do something nice for someone else today.”.

He smiled back, and I really don’t know how the interaction ended completely from there if he had said anything else.

I just remember hurriedly walking away feeling so awkward. What did that line of people think of me? Did they think I was trying to get applause or attention? Was it an appropriate amount? Were they still watching me walk back to my seat? What if he had told me he couldn’t accept it? What happens now?

I got back to my seat and busied myself in my work. Pretty much keeping my head down and not making eye contact with anyone.

After a few moments I realized some shuffling. I looked up to find — while he waited for his order, he was straightening all the empty tables and chairs. Slowly, deliberately, but with the most peculiar beat to his step… as if he could have been whistling in his head while doing this act of kindness.

My heart fluttered. To see how immediately a small gesture could not only change a person, but even their immediate surroundings. His eyes were changed, his posture was changed, the room was changed.

Happiness changes a person. Access to food changes a person. Access to love — changes a person.

I continued working.

Later, I looked up to gaze out the window and I saw him with an extra tall cup of coffee, a water, a big container of food that he was chowing on, and a small wrapped treat for later. A huge smile on his face as he sat in his chair more erect, his phone out, and a pair of glasses had found their way to his face. He sat determined, poised, focused at whatever his task was at hand. Or simply maybe no task at all but to enjoy these few moments of life where he was loved as an equal.

He no longer looked beaten down, hopeless, lost in despair. He looked astute. It looked as if he had traveled back in time, in his body, to a place where he wasn’t struggling. When he knew himself. When he had purpose, dignity, and life made since. When he wasn’t a victim of this world. When a Tuesday meant he read the news over coffee at the local coffee shop. A Tuesday when he got to ask the barista for his coffee just the way he liked it. When he got to plan what he would do with his tomorrow.

ahhhh, God is good. Our blessings are many. And I am grateful that I am not only able to give, but also able to witness such a marvelous site over a lukewarm cup of coffee on an otherwise, very ordinary Tuesday afternoon.

It’s easy for us to. not. do. It’s the path of least resistance — to listen to the negative and become paralyzed out of fear. Succumb to the thoughts of what *might* happen. How we might be seen, or what people might think.

It is very human. But what if we started acting instead of suppressing?

What if we took it a step further and started celebrating people for not suppressing? For a job well done. A good deed accomplished.

We celebrate our homes, we celebrate our families, we celebrate treating ourselves, we celebrate our successes. Why shouldn’t we celebrate our brother’s and sister’s good deeds? One good deed is likely to spur another, right? and another?

We all like validation, connection, celebration, recognition. Do we need it to do good for someone else? No. But why shouldn’t that environment be a reality? Why do we continue keeping ourselves silenced instead? Letting our experience and the presence of God go unpraised in our church?

I think it’s time to start celebrating. We hear bad news all day every day. Social media is clogged with negativity. It’s all so draining, it’s fatiguing, it’s DEPRESSING. Let’s start lifting each other up, celebrate our acts of kindness, God’s hand at work, and start showing the world what we’re truly capable of — together.

I did not submit to fear. #WEdidagoodthingtoday

❤Tell me your good deed so we can celebrate together! ❤