January 9: Play God Day

Today was Kristen's first day back to work, leaving me to try my hand at doing something to celebrate this holiday. Usually Kristen and I can sit down and put together something pretty cool, depending on the complexities of the holiday. After a couple hours, and limited time due to a five o'clock work schedule, we remembered that it isn't always about doing something just for us, sometimes it's about doing something for someone else.

That's because today was Play God Day, which isn't nearly as blasphemous as it sounds.  The holiday was created as one day a year to remember to live out the words of Ephesians 5:1 - "Be ye therefore imitators of God, as beloved children".  So, with Kristen at work, I decided to do just that.

The task for today: Pay it forward

Just before Christmas, Kristen and I were at lunch with family, when we decided that this would be the time to pay it forward to our waitress. Now for context, we were 1) at the mall on Dec. 23rd, 2)our waitress was had at least 6+ tables and was busting her ass to keep up with her tables.

Fast forward to yesterday, and paying it forward was something we really wanted to do again. Having just returned home from a month in Michigan, food and supplies at home were more or less non-existent.

After seeing Kristen off to work, I got ready and headed out to our local Meijer equivalent, H.E.B.
As I was finishing up with checking out, an older gentleman, appeared to be 65+, stepped into line behind me. I quickly skimmed the gentleman's cart and guessed about what his bill would end up being. As the cashier handed me my receipt, I handed her forty dollars and said "this is for his groceries, I'm paying it forward". The cashier, looking somewhat confused, smiled and said OK, and that was it. Having done it once, I wanted to get the full experience, so I made my way to the golden arches of McDonald's.

Now just to be clear, we are working really hard to avoid McDonald's as much as possible. However, to make this work, I ordered a medium fry and that was it. A bill totaling roughly two and a quarter. I handed the cashier $20 and repeated what I had said earlier, that I was paying it forward and the cashier got a very big smile on her face that someone was doing this. She took the next order, totaling $3.25, and was going to give me the leftover change. I looked at the cashier and told her to give the change to the other driver. The cashier, mostly speechless, managed to say "oh my" before I pulled away. As I picked up my order, I looked in my mirror to see the order driver, looking very confused as the cashier was explaining that someone had not only paid for her order, but here is the change from what he left. Now did she take it, or pay it forward herself?  I don't know. I have to say though, the feeling of knowing that somewhere out there, there is a pair of people smiling about a stranger paying for their respective bills, is wonderful.

If there is anyone who has never paid it forward, or gets the opportunity to pay it forward, I would highly recommend doing this. It is a wonderful way to brighten someone's day.