Pay it forward has personally touched my world.
While I have appreciated the thought behind this phenomenon for some time, I have never actually singled out anyone to receive this tangible demonstration of love for one’s fellow humans.
And to my recollection, until last week, no one had singled me out for such kindness either.
But last week as I stood in the line at Walmart, everything came into place for me to enter into this realm of reciprocity.
I had amassed a small stash of items while journeying through the store, and when I approached the cashier, I nonchalantly pulled out my wallet to retrieve my credit card. But … oops … no card appeared.
I must admit: I’ve experienced this occurrence more than I would like to admit, but usually after a few moments of panic, the wayward card surfaces from beneath a stash of other cards or tattered receipts – or even from one of my pockets. Not so this time. I pawed, I rooted, I rummaged through my wallet.
The sweet young woman who was checking me out even offered tips as I fretted. “Maybe it’s somewhere else in your purse,” she offered. But again … nothing.
“I guess I’m going to have to call the credit card company,” I finally mumbled. “Is there anywhere you can keep this while I go home to get the card?”
“I can take it to the customer service desk,” she said, “and you can pick it up there.”
When this fiasco started, I had been grateful that the line was empty. But during all my frantic searching, a woman had quietly appeared in the checkout area behind me. She was minding her own business, discretely looking at the chewing gum and candy bars, but then suddenly, without my realizing it, she somehow circled behind me and appeared at the card reader with a piece of colorful plastic in her hand.
I was temporarily confused. What was she doing?
It soon became clear.
“I’ve got it,” she softly told the cashier.
Our eyes met, and I could barely get out the words. “You are so kind,” I said with as much expression as I could without crying. “Thank you SO much.”
I wanted to hug her, but I didn’t think it was appropriate. Still, I wanted to do or say something to connect us in a more meaningful way, so I blurted out, “I’m Sallie.”
“I’m Cindy,” she returned.
And that’s all I remember. I think I thanked her again, and then I took my two deodorants and my eight taper candles that I needed for an upcoming ceremony and left.
Now, as I ponder the incident, I feel the urge – the need – to pay it forward with someone else.
Not only that, but I realize that even though said I had never been the recipient of a Pay It Forward Encounter before, that is incorrect. And if you think that you have not been the recipient of such a blessing, then your thinking might need adjusting, too.
More than 2,000 years ago the most significant Pay It Forward Event of all time happened. Jesus paid it forward – and backward – so that our sins could be forgiven. Yet we can never pay it forward enough to repay what he did for us. There’s simply no way. No way to pay him and no way to pay others enough to equal that.
We simply have to accept his offer of that payment, listen to his voice through the Bible, and obey what he has asked us to do. Oh, life won’t always be easy even when we do this, but the ultimate gift in the Pay It Forward and Backward Scheme is worth it.
Instead of merely getting to say “thank you” and wanting to reach out and hug someone in Walmart, those of us who accept and act on this plan will get to spend eternity with the ultimate Pay It Forward Master.
Meanwhile, here on Earth, we, too, can make someone’s day a bit better by doing what Cindy did.
Or asking, as the saying goes, “What would Jesus do?”
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Sallie Rose Hollis lives in Ruston and retired from Louisiana Tech as an associate professor of journalism and the assistant director of the News Bureau. She can be contacted at sallierose@mail.com.
