Showing posts with label #LightTheWorld #MyPostMonday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #LightTheWorld #MyPostMonday. Show all posts

Monday, December 4, 2017

One Small Candle + #MyPostMonday The Week's Best Original Content

It's just a job. She goes to work, does the best she can as a barista serving frothy drinks, and then goes home and does the rest of her life, which includes school, family, and trying to make a future for herself. 
 As we are aware, in addition to the hustle and bustle of shopping, party-going, gift wrapping, home decor, yummy food, Santa, and Elves, this is the month that many people reach out and provide service to others.

True Story: One day last week while working the drive-through, a woman drove up and handed my friend, Ms. Barista, $20.00. She didn't even get a drink. She just wanted to pay for as many people's drinks as possible. Then the next driver drove up. He was incredulous, but instead of simply taking the free drinks, he adds $5 to the pot. And so it went with several more drivers. They added instead of taking away. And then there was the one driver who came through---a single woman, who, when told that someone else had paid for her order, broke down in tears. She said that she was so in need of feeling that someone, anybody, cared for her today. She was so grateful. As this was happening Ms. Barista started crying, and her co-workers started crying. Everyone was crying as they carried out this simple act of caring. Someone went away feeling loved, others got to witness what a simple act can do.

But the ones who facilitated the act never really found out what happened because they drove away. These are people who don't look for an instant gratification or personal thanks for the goodness they contribute. In the Bible, it states that your right hand shouldn't know what your left hand is doing, and that if you receive accolades for the good you do, you have received your rewards. But those who do good in secret, the Lord will reward them openly. I'm sure that the facilitators of the free drinks that day will get plenty of good karma at some point in the near future!

Another true story! Ed Solomon is a writer and quite a famous one, if you are familiar with Men In Black, the Bill & Ted chronicles, and most recently, HBO's 'Mosaic'. He was put in the awkward position (since he is the only person these certain people know in the film industry) of trying to get ahold of Mark Hammill, aka Luke Skywalker, because a terminally ill boy's wish was to meet with Luke Skywalker himself. Apparently he watches 'Star Wars' every single day and knows the film inside and out. And he had a few choice questions for Luke Skywalker. The request was that he get to meet Luke Skywalker, NOT Mark Hammill and have a lovely chat about all things 'Star Wars'. (The boy's mental state had devolved past the point of being able to grasp that Luke was fictional.)

Although Ed Solomon didn't know Mark Hammill personally, he did find out who his agent was, and made that call. The agent begrudgingly told Mark not to get his hopes up. But less than 2 minutes later, the boy and his family got a call from Mark Hammill himself, who gave them his home address and invited them to come over. "He not only met with the boy, but spent hours answering question after question (sometimes the same ones repeatedly), AS "Luke." Of course, it meant everything to this boy and his family!
 I believe that both these men showed amazing love and compassion to make this happen for that boy. Ed Solomon could easily have written it off as something he couldn't do because he didn't know Mark Hammill personally, and didn't want to take the time to make calls and pull strings that might not even be possible in the first place. He tried and look what happened! And Mark Hammill is a busy, successful guy and probably gets thousands of requests. But he saw a real need and an authentic opportunity to help someone have joy. The goodness of people is amazing!

These seemingly simple acts of pure service quickly turn into something much more than what they may have been intended to be. It can spread like wildfire during this time of year and infuse the world with light! I do believe in the #LightTheWorld campaign and am doing my own small acts of service wherever and whenever I can. They aren't huge, and I may never know the consequences. But like the ones I described, they may become something much more!!!
 Today is "My Post Monday!", a curation of the week's best original content. It's all about posts from Crafts to Camping, Wellness to Wealth, Fashion to Food, and whatever else is on the brain!  I  open up with a post of my own and then follow it up with a linky of the week's top original blog posts! It's all about what the writer thinks, believes, and knows--in other words, they are active, writing blogs. If I happen to find a great original, non-sponsored post, I'll link it up and share it with you here and on Twitter via the #MyPostMonday hashtag!  I can miss some amazing posts, but I don't want to!  So, in addition, if you'd like to link up yourself, you can do that too!  I'll visit your site, comment, promote and publicize! (Affiliate links welcome!)