Two Conversations and a bit of Lent (part one)

I once went to a talk given by a young Buddhist monk, the one thing I recall is him saying to be thankful every day.  He said he didn’t mean to thankful for life, but thankful for those who added to your life without knowing you.  He said that when he walked at night, he would be thankful for the people who put up the street lights, to the people who ran the electricity, so that his journey would not be in the dark.  He said that when in a car he would notice the barriers, the speed restrictions, the warning signs, all to keep him safe, and be thankful.  He was thankful for paths so that he did not have to walk on mud, for bridges, that he could cross a river or a busy road in safety.  When you start to think like this, it’s amazing all the things we take for granted, yet someone, somewhere thought it would be a good idea to keep us safe, secure, warm, not lost, and so many other things.

In church once, at the approach of Lent, our vicar said that perhaps instead of thinking of what we would give up for Lent, we could instead plan to take up something for Lent.  A good thing, a giving thing perhaps.  Something that would be of benefit, rather than something than to avoid.  So instead of giving up Haribo (which I hate) or Fig rolls (still hate) I shall be taking something up.

I decided to do something nice every day for a stranger.  Just see what each day brought by way of opportunity and act accordingly. So here we go;

1  1. I put some food on the freecycle network and requested that it went to a charity.  Lots of replies, but two stood out.  One was from a lady who collected food with which to feed the homeless and on Saturday I shall be taking along half the food to her.  The other was from a mother of two young teenage boys.  Their father had skipped off leaving them with a pile of debt and a house about to be repossessed.  They had lived in hostels for a year and were recently granted a house, not in the area they had lived in before, and needing more than a little tlc but it was a home.  She was struggling to make ends meet as a lot of single parents are.  So the second half of the food went to her.

     2. Well this started out as something for me……. I saw a veil on freecycle and thought it would make a great dressing up piece for my niece, and asked for it.  I was honest about why I wanted it.  The man said that it had belonged to his wife, she had died 14 years previously and he felt it was time to move on and let it go.  He was happy it was going to be used for such a nice purpose.  So, a good thing for him too. 

3. At work we are opposite a shop and people will insist on parking in our allocated spaces so they can nip across and do their shopping.  It’s very frustrating, especially if it leaves us with nowhere to park.  Many an argument has been sparked by people behaving in this manner.  So when I arrived to find a car slung casually into my space I was not a happy bunny.  The owner was returning and for a second I was going to glare at him, but then thought better of it and smiled, he apologised, I said no worries, he said he had to make a last minute dash and he was really sorry he’d taken my space.  He thanked me and left.  And about 3 minutes later than I could have done I parked in my space.  3 minutes and a smile. No loss.