Little Unexpected Blessings

I need to pray tonight in thanks for little unexpected blessings. I have been helping a neighbor since his beloved wife’s passing on 8/3. Truth be told, he has helped our household, too, in many ways.

He has taken me, every other week, on an errand that I would normally have to pay someone to do with me, and he won’t accept gas money (on that day, the sole set of wheels for the household is 15 miles away at my “nephew’s” job). He has given us things that he has found when going through his wife’s belongings and household goods.

My help to him has been a different type. I’ve written out money orders for his bills, made calls for/with him to untangle situations, held a yard sale for his things (even though we only netted $36 for him), and set up a Salvation Army pickup for him. Sometimes I am tired when he calls and needs a bit of help, but I’ve made myself help anyway because I know he has nobody else here right now to help him.

As I said, I felt we were “even,” favor-wise, even though we really don’t keep score. I felt he needed my help more than I needed his.

Tonight, he called me across the street and held up 3 lottery tickets and told me to pick one. I know I would have offended him deeply if I had refused. I picked the middle one. Turns out the tickets are good for two drawings a week, until sometime in December. He said we’d split 50-50 if I win. This was an incredibly thoughtful thing for him to do for me, for our household. I hope I win a few hundred on that ticket, at least, for his sake. I feel blessed that someone would think of me that way. It’s not that he spent the money for the ticket. It’s not that we expect to win. In this case, it truly is the thought that counts.

Thank you, Dear Father, for this and other blessings you have bestowed on me; help me to always be happy to help someone else, not for the return, but for the good feeling it brings.