It’s Friday afternoon – around 4:00pm. I picked up Garrett from school and decided to run a quick errand at the nearby Vons Supermarket.
Right outside Vons, there was a woman outside sitting near the entrance. She had the most beautiful smile and she was holding a bucket with a sign that said “Please Help The Homeless”. Garrett couldn’t keep her eyes off her. As soon as we got inside, he said “Mom, we need to help her later…” I told him we would.
After our very quick grocery shopping, we were on our way out and I gave Garrett some money to put inside the bucket. When we got there, he eagerly but gently put the dollar bills into the bucket and as he respectfully looked at the lady he also said: “God Bless You…” Naturally, I was so proud of him for wanting to help people in need through his own initiative.
We got in the car, drove off, waved good-bye to the lady but after being in the car for a few minutes, Garrett remembered that he had his wallet in the car and in it was 10% of his recent savings which amounted to $20.00. He asked me: “Mom, is it okay if I gave my $20.00 to the homeless people?” My heart melted… I was dumbfounded! I was so touched that he wanted to help some more… He said “Mom, can we please turn around so I can give this to her? The Holy Spirit is telling me to do it…” You better believe that was all I needed to hear and I turned the car around as fast as a New York minute!
When we got there, Garrett excitedly went back to the lady and by then there was also another lady standing next to her giving her donation. He told her: “Excuse me Ma’m, we came back because I wanted to give you this… this is 10% of my savings….” Just then, the lady burst into tears – she couldn’t believe what she just saw and heard! With tears in her eyes and a big radiant smile on her face, she looked up in heaven and said “Dear God, please bless this young man for his heart!” She looked straight into Garrett’s eyes and she said “Young man, you know God sees your heart right at this very minute… He is going to richly bless you for your generosity”. Then she looked at me and said “You have to be so proud… you are doing a tremendous job teaching him.” It was one of those moments where I felt so proud to be a parent. By then all 3 of us were sharing tears of pride, gratitude and joy before Garrett could even comprehend what he just did!
We asked for their names – Corliss and Brenda. Corliss is a volunteer to help raise funds for the homeless and she’s normally at the Vons Supermarket on Fridays. Garrett has now decided that we will do our best to visit Corliss every Friday and perhaps even give his toys, clothes and food to those the homeless families Corliss represents. (I am still in tears reminiscing that moment… tears of a proud Mother!)
What happened this afternoon brought to mind something important. As we go about our day and we go through the motion of get, get, get: getting ahead in life, getting caught up with our “to-do list” and getting upset at the little things, may we always be reminded that our activities and decisions produce FRUITS – good fruits or bad fruits. Our activities and decisions are the seeds and the results are the fruits but depending on the type of plant, some trees take much longer to bear good fruit. As long as we stay consistent nourishing the plant that stems from those seeds, there is a bigger probability that it will bear the most succulent, sweetest and juiciest fruit!
I know this tree just did……
Strolled around King Harbor in Redondo Beach and had an amazing seafood lunch
