Pay It Forward

Today I went to Chick-fil-A to get dinner for my mom and myself.

I've been pretty emotional lately just thinking about how we're getting ready for Lent and how undeserving I am of grace and of Jesus.

A song came on the radio and the lyric played: somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe. A lot has been going on lately that just make me question myself/where I am/how I got here/why I'm at this point in my life, etc. and I just started crying.

By the time I was in the drive-thru line, I had pretty much stopped crying, but I was wiping my eyes. I'm not sure if the woman in front of me saw me doing this or if she is just an extremely nice person and wanted to make someone's day, but she paid for my order. Either way, she absolutely made my day. As I pulled up to the window the guy told me she'd paid for it and I literally said, "are you serious?!"

I was so surprised and thankful. Of course as I drove away I started crying again. I was just thinking about how that was such a small gesture that made such a big difference. And it was free just like God's grace. I had no right to it, I hadn't done anything to deserve it.

The business world is SO quid pro quo. People keep score and are always owing favors or doing what they can to get ahead. I don't even know how to be a Christian in an environment like that. As a "producer" and having sales goals, it's always about what I can do to get to my goals, etc. Servant leadership doesn't really get you anywhere unless you can do it while also being a top producer.

St. Joseph the Worker, pray for us.