We live in a society full of selfish, greedy and rude people. We also live in a society with self-less, generous, and kind people. Some days you are the statue, and some days you are the pigeon. If this phrase doesn’t make sense to you, let me explain it: when you are the pigeon, you have the world at your feet, and nothing can seem to go wrong. When you are the statue, you are getting pooped on (by the pigeon) and nothing seems to be going your way. Surprisingly enough, it doesn’t take much to go from one to the other. On the pigeon days, maybe someone says something mean, cuts you off in line, or you’re running late. Suddenly, you feel like the statue. Someone lets you go in front of them in line, you hold the door for someone, and they are very appreciative. Suddenly, you’re no longer having a bad day. All it takes, is one small act of kindness to not only change someone else’s day but yours as well.

The other week, I was at work and it was a relatively slow day. I had just paid my rent, paid for school, and tithed 10 percent of my income from the week before. I felt like my bank account was only going one direction. I had a table of two college girls come in whom I have never seen before, They were very nice and sat at the table talking for awhile. As the girls left, one gave me a generous tip, which was more than double what I had made throughout the whole shift. I stared at the money in my hand in disbelief, and it made my whole day brighter. I realized, something as small as that tip changed my entire day's outlook.

I decided at that moment, I was going to repay the favor by doing something nice for someone else. I prayed about it throughout the day, and thought about it all night knowing God would tell me what to do when the time came. The next day, I went to get my caramel iced coffee from McDonald's (my latest addiction). As I was sitting in the drive-through, I looked back at the car behind me, and felt God was telling me to pay for their breakfast. When I pulled up to pay, I asked the drive-through attendant if I could pay for the car behind me. My heart started racing and I got nervous. She gave me a weird look. I explained I didn’t know who they were and asked her to tell them someone did something nice for me yesterday. I'm paying it forward if they had any questions. She broke out in a huge smile and told me to have a nice day. I got my coffee and looked at the car behind me as they tried to pay; she refused their money. She pointed at me as they both looked forward with confusion and disbelief.

This gave me an idea. I reached out on Facebook and asked my friends to pay it forward too. I was surprised at how excited people were to do this!

Tracy was the first person to reply. She is a family friend who has known my mom for years. Tracy currently lives in Texas with her husband and daughter (I can’t wait to visit them and get out of this Kansas cold weather!). She sent me a story about her grocery shopping experience. It made my day brighter just reading about what she had done! Tracy told me that she was at the store and saw an elderly lady on a motorized cart using her cane to knock the items she needed off the shelf into her lap. Tracy saw the lady struggling and asked if she could use some help completing her shopping. The lady was very sweet and explained that her daughter was usually there to help with the shopping but was sick with the flu. Tracy said, although paying it forward is harder than you think, taking time out of her day to help someone else made her shopping experience much nicer. This made me realize, there are so many people out there dealing with things that people have no idea about.

Jenny is my cousin who lives in Minnesota with her husband and their kids. She was also at the grocery store when she found the perfect opportunity to help someone else. There was a mother of 4 struggling to get her kids and groceries into their car. Jenny recognized the stress on the mother’s face and helped get the kids and groceries into their car. She could sense the relief as the mother thanked my cousin over and over for helping her. Jenny smiled, told the mother she knew how she was feeling as she has been in the same position before, and said she hoped she made the mother’s day a little better. When I asked about how it made her feel, Jenny said doing something small to benefit the mother made her feel good knowing it made a difference in someone’s life when they are in a difficult position. She said she wanted to do something nice for someone again, and had an opportunity to help an elderly lady the next day. Jenny said “It makes you feel like a hero when you make a small difference in someone's daily life”. Reading her story made me happy, and I want to recognize that “hero” feeling after helping someone.

Marsha is one of the most kindhearted, loving people I have ever met. She started out as a family friend, and was immediately adopted into the family. Marsha is one of the 30 aunts and uncles my family provided me with over the years. Anyone who is friends with the Widmer family, becomes a part of the Widmer family. When I asked (okay, more like challenged) her to do something nice for someone, she realized throughout her day-to- day activities, that she was raised to do nice things without even thinking about it. On day one, she did two self-less acts of kindness, which to her, was just being a nice human. She shoveled her neighbor’s walk way (she also lives in “Minnesnowta”) and made dinner for a friend who just had surgery. One of her conscious act of kindness was buying lunch at a drive-through for a mother and her children. Marsha said it gave her a fuzzy warm feeling doing something nice for other people.

Like Tracy and Jenny, she did not do this for recognition but simply to make someone’s day a little brighter. Marsha told me she likes to do nice things to put a smile on someone’s face, help to restore their faith in people, and to “help them realize they have self-worth, which I believe people forget at times”.

These three women are busy people, but took time out of their day to help brighten someone else's. All it takes is one self-less thought and action to change the dynamic, not only of a stranger’s day, but yours as well. I challenge you this week to open your eyes to find someone who needs help, or someone who could use a smile or a kind gesture in their day. You never know what someone is dealing with, so spread joy, and help a stranger this week.