Gratitude

Recently I read an article on MSN's Smart Spending Blog. Donna shared that she gave some random man on the street a dollar. She got lots of comments for sharing this information. I thought it was very refreshing to see that many of the commenters supported her decision to be generous. Of course, there were the naysayers who disagreed with her gesture of kindness. The recipient of the funds was very grateful.

Any of us could fall on hard times at the drop of a hat. Just look at our economy today. There are massive layoffs, citizens with huge mortgages who are struggling to pay them down or not paying them down at all, and the stock market affecting retirement plans and more.

I have a friend who lives in a very expensive suburban town. She and her husband had excellent jobs and a beautiful home. She told me about a Thanksgiving day where she volunteered in a soup kitchen. She was serving the clients Thanksgiving dinner. She said at one point she looked up only to see a former coworker of her husband. She said that their families used to get together quite often and had recently lost touch. This particular family had lost everything as a result of corporate downsizing.

Donna mentioned in her article that as she shared her wealth with the homeless man, a man in an SUV sped right by the two of them and made a rude comment. I'll bet Mr. SUV has never read the story of Lazarus -- Luke 16:19-31.