The Forgotten Note

The Forgotten Note

I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.

1 Timothy 2:1

As the keynote speaker at a professional women’s networking luncheon finished her last sentences, everyone around me slipped on their winter coats and made a beeline for the door. Having arrived late, I was seated at a hastily erected table in the back corner. The woman next to me, also a late arrival, leaned over and asked if, almost eight years ago, my daughter had attended a local day care.

As this woman’s story unfolded, tears began pooling in my eyes.

Our daughters, roughly the same age, once attended the same day care center. Her daughter, they discovered, had something seriously wrong with her spine and was set to undergo a scary operation. I heard of her ordeal and sent an encouraging note through the day care staff, praying for her daughter and for their family. We had never met. I never heard what had happened to her daughter, and, honestly, I’d forgotten all about that note.

Recognizing my name on my luncheon name tag, this woman told me how beautifully the surgery had gone and how her daughter is now a healthy, thriving young girl. We spent several minutes catching up on our daughters before we each slipped back into our work days. Before we parted ways, she told me that my simple note, sent in that hard moment, meant so much to her that she has it still, eight years later.

As I left that luncheon, I said a little prayer of thanksgiving to God for reminding me of how a small act of kindness can profoundly impact someone else’s life. Just as today’s verse in 1 Timothy reminds us, we are to be generous in praying for others. God so often shines through us when we go out of our way with small kindnesses toward people we barely know.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Drop an old-fashioned note in the mail letting an acquaintance know that you are praying for them.