Fifty Cent Love Note

And when I say "love notes," I mean tender mercies from Heavenly Father exhibited in my day-to-day life that show He's looking over me and just trying to express His love in ways that can sink into my mortality-limited, thick-skulled brain.

I took my kids to the library today for the first time in weeks! At the checkout (with a few dozen books on the counter, blocking eye contact between the bewildered checkout gal and myself) the clerk said I had a fifty cent fine. My library will NOT let you check out books if you have any kind of fine, fifty cents or fifty bucks. I had zero cash or change on me, so I started whipping out my checkbook from my purse (silly, I know, but I was desperate). The clerk peeked around the book mountain and said they don't take checks for less than a dollar. 

(Hmmmm, I'm PRETTY sure I've been in the same boat before and I'm PRETTY sure I've written checks for less than a buck before...because I'm lame like that. Must be a new policy, maybe?) 

I began digging through my purse hoping for a miraculously hidden quarter or two--which I knew wouldn't be in there because I cleaned my purse out last week, plus my kids bum change off me all the time--wondering if I'm going to have to drive all the way home to dig up fifty cents so I can borrow these books for my kids. School's officially out for summer as of today, I need my kids to have these books!

I turned when I heard a familiar voice behind me saying, "Are you in trouble, Amy?" I looked and it was an older sister from church. My kids call her Grandma H_____ (because her son and daughter-in-law to go our church, too, so there are technically two Sis. H_____s, so they call her Grandma H______ to avoid confusion). She gave me the fifty cents to pay my fine. I pledged I would repay her as soon as I could. She smiled, shook her head, and told me to pay it forward next time I saw someone fumbling for change at the library counter. 

What a relief! What a rescue! And for what? Something she had ample of that I was lacking. What does it cost us to show a little bit of love for our fellow man? How many times do we see others in need around us, whether great or small, and we turn our eyes because we're either embarrassed to acknowledge what we saw or we're afraid of doing something wrong in trying to help? We should never be afraid to do what is right. 

Thank you, Grandma H_____, for your kindness and helping me remember this principle of the golden rule, of loving my brothers and sisters.