Help someone else after being helped, return kindness, pay in advance, going to return the favor, these are all phrases that mean – PAY IT FORWARD.
If something good is done for one person, they turn around and do something good for another. An instance to pay it forward can be dated back to the life of Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Webb told Mr. Franklin that he needed a large amount of money to finance a business. Mr. Franklin gave him the money with the stipulation that he would help someone else in financial difficulty at some time in his life.
Paying it forward need not always involve large amounts of money or great acts of charity. It may just be a minor notion for you but of extreme importance to the one receiving the act. I can recall several times I have been the recipient.
I remember all the way back to first grade, that’s a long time, when one of my classmates gave me a dime to put into my little homemade salt box purse my mama had made for me from a cylinder-shaped salt box. I can remember her saying, “Do you want some money for your new purse?” and then giving me the dime.
Another time was quite recently. My husband and I were at a steak house in Jackson sitting at a bar table waiting to order. There was a middle-aged couple with two children sitting next to us and we just naturally begin a conversation. As they got up to leave, the man came by our table and laid a one-hundred-dollar bill and said for us to have dinner on them. I remember at that time we returned the kindness and gave it to our waiter to share among her fellow workers. Good feeling!
I know that several of my family has paid for books for college students with the promise that they would pass them on to other students as they finished the course. I know friends who have given money anonymously, to pay utility bills for those who have had their lights or gas turned off and asked that the recipient be asked to help someone else with the same dilemma at a more opportune time.
Paying it forward is a blessing to one’s heart and have you ever done a good deed or helped someone feel good “just because”? I love to watch a person’s face when I say, “You look nice in that dress today, or you have a beautiful smile.” What did it cost me? One breath. Yet I got this feeling that my heart was smiling.
I have quoted this to many people over the years and it’s written inside on the first page of my Bible. “The true test of a man is to see how he treats someone who can do absolutely nothing for him.”
Feel Good Soup
2 T. oil
2 pounds of boneless chicken breast cut into small cubes
6 cloves minced garlic
8 cups chicken broth
1 – 10-ounce package of fresh spinach torn into bite sized pieces
4 chopped carrots, pepper and salt.
Heat oil over high heat and add chicken and garlic and saute’ for 5 minutes.
Add remaining ingredients and cover and simmer.
