Pay it Forward

From "Entitlement or Etiquette"

A kind, giving, openhearted and openhanded attitude puts you in the mindset of being generous, whether in expressing thankfulness to others or in giving of yourself to others when the occasion arises. The beauty of developing such an attitude is that the benefits move in two directions. When you’re generous, it benefits those that you are thankful for or who you’re helping, and at the same time it benefits you. When you bless others, you are blessed. When you give, you receive.[3] When you help others, others help you.


Here’s a beautiful story which illustrates that principle.


One day a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see that she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her.


Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help her for at least an hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn't look safe; he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was those chills which only fear can put in you. He said, "I'm here to help you, ma'am. Why don't you wait in the car where it's warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson."


Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.


As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She said that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through, and she couldn't thank him enough for coming to her aid.


Bryan just smiled as he closed the trunk. The lady asked him how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. He was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life this way, and it never occurred to him to act in any other way.


He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, "Think of me." He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed home, disappearing into the twilight.


A few miles down the road the lady saw a small café. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and to take the chill off before she made the last leg of her journey home. It was a dingy-looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn't erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain of the aches and pains change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger, and then she remembered Bryan.


After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress got back. The waitress wondered where the lady could have gone. Then she noticed something written on the napkin.


There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: "You don't owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way that I'm helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you can do: Do not let this chain of love end with you."


Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.


Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How had the lady known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be really hard.


She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, "Everything's going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson." (Author Unknown)

Isn’t that beautiful?

We are the beneficiaries of Jesus’ giving of Himself. Because He gave, we have received. His call to us is to give to others, to give Him, and to give of ourselves. We’re called to emulate Him, and part of that is becoming more like Him in our interaction with others. We’re called to be loving—to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to do to others what we would want them to do to us,[4] and this includes being generous with our appreciation, and finding the right ways of expressing it so that others know that we are thankful for their efforts, and their hospitality, and their giving. It also means showing love through giving of ourselves, through helping those in need. It means being open to giving our time and resources to help those whom God has brought across our path. God is loving, merciful, and compassionate.

Jesus was the incarnation of the attributes of God. He showed us what God is like, through the life He lived on earth. We emulate God’s love and compassion when we develop a generous attitude. And when we do, we put a face on God. People see the love and care, the generosity of spirit, the thankful and grateful hearts that we as Christians have, and when they do, they are getting a glimpse of the nature and character of God.

We’re called to bring Jesus to others, and one of the most powerful ways to do so is to let His light shine through us in the love we show and in the loving actions we perform. It’s the face of Christianity because it’s the face of Christ.