Absolutely Nothing

Caroline and I attended a marriage class at Veritas Church when we  were members there.  One of the take-aways from that class was to commit to a date night once a week.  Our date nights aren’t usually very glamorous, but making the commitment for just the two of  us to be together at least once a week has proved to be very important to us.  This week we went to one of our favorite dinner locations, Bonefish Grill – nice meal , but nothing out of the ordinary until the waitress brought our check.  The hostess accompanied her and announced that another couple had paid our bill.  She pointed in the direction that they had been sitting, which was only a couple of tables away.  Part of me was embarrassed for not noticing who was there, but another part of me was glad that my attention had been on Caroline.  The hostess said that they had called me by name, but had instructed her not to tell me who they were.   And they were gone.  So this act of generosity generated much conversation and speculation with the first big question being, “who would have done this?” and the next being “what had I had done to deserve this?”.  The only answer I could come up with was “absolutely nothing.”   The next question was, “who would do this without wanting to be acknowledged or thanked for what they had done?”   Paul said:  “When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.”  I  expect whoever paid our check had read that before once or twice.  Praise God for treating me like that every day.