This past Saturday night, my husband and I had a couple hours to ourselves for dinner, thanks to Grandma. The place we intended to go had too long of a wait so we tried to come up with a back up plan. I was being unusually indecisive. And after Dan suggested a long list of options, we finally settled on dinner at a small Chinese restaurant with a run to the discount store next door. Nothing glamorous I know, but like I told you, I was being indecisive.
We walked in and saw a cute little family . . . the only other “dine-in” patrons. The couple had a little girl probably about 9 months old. She was adorable and very happy. Our interaction with them only involved a hello when we walked in and some smiley faces to their daughter.
We took our seats, ordered our dinner and they shortly left. Dan and I enjoyed some adult conversation over General Tso’s and Sweet & Sour Chicken. Soon thereafter, the waitress made her way over to our table with two fortune cookies and the information that the family, who had been there previously, paid for our dinner.
Wow! We were actually dumb-founded – which if you knew us, would be rather hard to believe. We were overcome with a variety of thoughts and feelings. Did we know them? No. What made them do it? How nice! How kind! How incredible! What a blessing! And, why us?
The only thing we know is that the daughter’s name was Selah. “Selah” is a musical term found in the Psalms. Many scholars believe it means to pause or an equivalent of today’s “Amen.”[1] Given that knowledge, it left us wondering if this family was Christian and blessing us just as they have been blessed by God.
So now, having been blessed, we want to do the same. We’ll be looking for an opportunity to buy someone else’s dinner. Some will call this paying it forward. I will call it blessing others because I have been richly blessed by Christ. And to that family, thank you. We were touched by your kindness.
“From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another.” John 1:16
Would you do something like this?
If so, I Can Teach My Child has a great free printable to use if you are going to pay for the meal of the car behind you at the drive-thu.
So now, having been blessed, we want to do the same. We’ll be looking for an opportunity to buy someone else’s dinner. Some will call this paying it forward. I will call it blessing others because I have been richly blessed by Christ. And to that family, thank you. We were touched by your kindness.
“From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another.” John 1:16
Would you do something like this?
If so, I Can Teach My Child has a great free printable to use if you are going to pay for the meal of the car behind you at the drive-thu.
[1] Youngblood, Ronald. “New Illustrated Bible Dictionary.” Thomas Nelson Publishes, 1995.
My name is Kristen. I'm a former Wedding & Event Planner blogging about fun ways to celebrate each and every day and the special occasions of life. Here you'll find inspiration for family fun, children's activities, party planning and a faith-filled life. 
That’s awesome! What a blessing and inspiration! Thanks for sharing.
What a great story! I have done things like this before. In fact one time I paid for a young lady’s gas because she reminded me of myself struggling to juggle 2 little kids with a car that was barely running. I could see the frustration on her face and felt she needed a pick me up. Then one day out of nowhere I made small chit chat with a guy next to me while I was pumping gas. I went in to pay after he had left and the clerk informed me that he had already paid for my fuel! I guess what goes around does come around in strange little ways. Each time I go to my sons school I drop a dollar or two on the school grounds. I don’t care how rich you are, when you find money laying on the ground it changes your entire out look on the day, and you feel like the luckiest person alive! 🙂 It sounds like you really deserved this and it is nice to know that there are some good people left in the world doing random acts of kindness. 🙂
Angela