We recently went on a cruise and one of the benefits we have for cruising so much is that they do our laundry for free. I decided to gather our clothes and turn them in to the cabin steward the next day for laundry service. Everything was put in the paper bag including my hubby’s swim trunks. I didn’t know until later that he had left a $100 bill in the zipper pocket. He likes to hide one in his pocket in case of an emergency when we are on the islands. Later he told me that he had left it in the pocket and when we got our clothes back, the money was gone. It could not have fallen out because someone had to unzip the pocket in order to get to it.
At first I was angry. I was angry that someone stole the money. I was angry at my husband for not checking his pockets before giving it to me. I was angry at myself for not checking all of the pockets before putting the clothes in the bag. Then I was embarrassed at our carelessness because it was our own fault and no one else’s fault. No, we didn’t tell anyone because it was useless to accuse anyone and would only create a fuss that couldn’t be resolved.
Then I began to think about the whole situation. What if we were an answer to someone’s prayer? What if someone was desperate for the money and prayed that a miracle would happen? What if that money was their miracle? We don’t have a lot of money but that much would not crimp our vacation. If it happened to some young newlywed couple (I remember those days of having very little money), this loss could be devastating and ruin their honeymoon. Maybe an older couple would have been deeply upset too because they are only living on their social security and they had saved up for this trip for a long time. Maybe in order to answer someone’s prayer and help them during this desperate time, we were meant to leave that money in that pocket. It is highly unusual that my hubby leaves money in his pockets and it is extremely rare that I don’t check all of the pockets. Yet on this particular day both of us did the unexpected. I like to think that maybe someone really needed that more than we did.
It gives me peace to think that maybe it wasn’t a calamity for us and that someone is out there giving thanks for this miracle that happened to them. And if we weren’t an answer to someone’s prayers, that’s okay too because God knows and that is all that counts.
Maybe your actions today may be the answers to someone’s prayers and you may never know about it. Have a great day!
(crossposted on the Life of Loonyhiker)
Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).
Original image: 'esperança - hope'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/64858114@N00/252434214 by: Alexandre Eggert
2 comments:
That was a nice piece of Cognitive Behavioral Thinking. You took a clearly negative event, thought, and feeling and turned it around to something very positive. We need to help students do this as well. When they mess up, they need to see the positive side of lessons learned and progress in the making. It's a life skill to reflect as you have done and few people do it often enough.
I agree~ when something is stolen from me and I feel that pit of regret in my stomach, I think to myself~ they must of really needed it. I don't need like that, I am very blessed. This is one way I try to cultivate compassion for those not as at peace with life as I am.
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