Losing To Gain

On a list of things we could do to show kindness, the suggestion to give away something that you really like jumped out at me.

Just give it away.

To someone else.

So you no longer have it.

And they do.

And then through the Kathryn R. Nelson Memorial Foundation

came an opportunity for me to try the suggestion out.

A cyberspace colleague was collecting things that she would be delivering to a family whose loved one battling cancer is anticipating an extended post-op recovery time.

Food, mostly, I think.

And items to fill Easter eggs.

So I sent off a Pappa's Gift Card I'd been waiting to use.

And it felt so amazing to share.

Now, I'm not saying it was a sacrifice, really, though that card would have meant a really nice dinner for John and me, for sure. But I remember what a blessing it was to have dinner delivered when that wreck slowed me way down and, when I picture the relief it will bring to someone whose needs are greater, much greater, than ours right now, I'm filled with a beautiful peace and joy to have been able to pass it on,

to pay it forward.

Mitch Albom's thought reminds me of the sacrifice bunt in softball. I used to love to just swing away as pitches crossed the plate, so I was content never learning how to bunt. But there is typically a batter on a team's roster whose job it will be to put down a bunt perfectly enough to force the defense to make a play at first, whereby allowing the runner at second to advance.

She'll be out, but the team will be a base closer to scoring.

So sacrificing something isn't really about losing at all,

but rather about gaining.

Sometimes it's personal.

Sometimes it's for the team.

Sometimes it's for a stranger.

It could even be for {gasp} someone you don't like very much.

'Cause when all is said and done,

we're called to love one another,

to help one another,

to encourage one another,

to serve one another,