What would love do right now?
I’ve got a brief story I hope you’ll consider making your own.
One of my favorite craft stores recently announced they are closing all of their 145 locations. I’ve been driving from store to store in my area, loading up on the beads they sell that had become integral components of my Bracelets From Heart.
A lovely young woman works at one of the locations I’ve occasionally visited. She embodies The Love and Kindness Initiative each day in the way she listens to each customer, the way she makes them feel cared about and important, and the way her smile lights up the entire store.
I’d wished her well during my last visit, assuming I wouldn’t be seeing her again, but that little inner voice we all have but don’t always follow told me at the time I needed to do something more. I unexpectedly was running an errand near her store, so I stopped in to see if I could pick up a few more strands of discounted beads.
I was wearing all seven of the chakra Love Bracelets. They’re the bracelets shown in the photo that accompanies this post, and you can find them, either as a set or individually with the rest of the fifteen or so varieties, in the online craft fair at www.TransformingThroughLove.com
(Thank you to my dear friend Wendy, who is graciously volunteering her time and energy to stock and maintain my website store. I love you, Wendy.)
Back to our story. Without being consciously aware of the words before they left my lips, I said, “I want to give you a gift. Let me see your wrist. Oh, that’s great! You’ve got tiny wrists like me! I’m wearing seven bracelets I’ve made, in large part, from the beads you sell here. I’d love it if you took one as a thank you from me to you for all the kind things you’ve done for me over the years.”
She was grateful, but that’s not the point of this story. The cashier working next to her told me something that I want to share with you:
“What a nice thing to do! (The woman) had told me she didn’t have money this year to buy herself a Christmas gift. She has a five-year-old son and she just moved into a new apartment in October. She’s really worried about the future and she doesn’t know how she’ll find the money to buy something for her little boy, now that she’s losing her job. If anyone needs a special gift right now, it’s her.”
There was a long line of shoppers standing in line behind me. Not one of them complained that I was taking too long speaking with the cashiers. They all smiled at me as I left the store. It was a beautiful moment for me and, I’m guessing, for everyone who was there.
I may have given her a bracelet, but I was the one who received the gift. It felt wonderful to have followed my intuition and spontaneously did something that lit up two people losing their jobs at holiday time, along with a long line of people patiently waiting to pay for their purchases.
What would love do right now?
I listened to love, and it was one of the best moments of my life.
You can do this. I invite you to do your own version of what I did. Maybe you can’t afford to buy seven of my bracelets to give away. If not, please consider looking for inexpensive emergency gifts to keep in your purse for those moments when your spontaneous desire to do something kind and loving for someone overwhelms any hesitancy to reach out to a stranger.
The gifts don’t have to be costly. They just have to be.
Some of the emergency gifts I’ve recently given include honey straws and tiny inspirational books. The honey straw helped a diabetic I’d met on the bus raise his blood sugar, which had dropped so low he was having trouble walking. It cost me a dollar. I think that dollar was well spent. The tiny inspirational books are books I am given or pick up at book exchanges. The people who feel alone and scared appreciate the comfort they contain.
Have you ever felt alone and scared? Can you empathize with how they might be feeling? Buy some cheap stuff and be alert for ways to be love in other people’s lives.
I especially like considering the possibility that the people who were waiting in line might adopt my example and pay it forward in their own lives with the people they meet.
Maybe they won’t.
Then again, maybe they will.
We never know how meaningful our emergency gifts might be, unless we’re fortunate enough to have another person nearby who tells us why we did a good thing.
It’s the season, you know.
What would love do right now?
Love would do this together.
Love and blessings to you and yours, and best wishes for the new year,
Sheryl Hirsch-Kramer
Instigator, The Love and Kindness Initiative
Copyright 2019 by Sheryl Hirsch-Kramer. This writing is not to be reproduced without prior permission granted by the writer. Please fill out the contact form at www.TransformingThroughLove.com to ask for permission to reprint this post ONLY in its entirety.
