Word of Encouragement

As I have said before, one of my joys is receiving feedback and stories from our Weekly Words of Encouragement audience.

So “thank you” to those people who continuously remind me that there are lots of good things to see if we will only slow down and open our eyes to the miracles happening all around us.

For example, one reader sent me a story about an Ohio mother’s encounter with a McDonald’s worker. On the “Let’s talk Waynesville, Ohio” Facebook page, Brittany Reed shared an experience she had at the local McDonald’s. Apparently it struck a chord, as her post has been shared over 560,000 times!

What happened? After leaving her son’s football practice with the kids in tow, she learned that her three hungry children weren’t too happy with the upcoming dinner.

So she did what I, as the father of four kids, and many of us have done when confronted with similar circumstances—she went to McDonald’s!

Only one small problem—after ordering the food, she realized she had left her purse at home. So here is what happened in her own words:

“Welp now I wanted to cry. I looked at the young man [the cashier] with tears in my eyes just from being stressed and annoyed and said ‘hun I am so sorry but I have to cancel that order I left my purse at home when we went to football tonight.’ WITHOUT HESITATION he takes out his wallet and swipes his card before I could even say ‘no I will be right back!'”

And the article goes on to note that, “when Reed told the cashier, whom she identified as Wyatt Jones, that she would come back to the fast food chain to pay for the meal, Jones told her not to worry about it. With the emotions of the moment, I just about cried, to be honest, but Wyatt was so incredibly kind,” she said.

“He didn’t skip a beat at all. He pulled his wallet out like [it was] no big deal. I just want his parents to know how KIND & COMPASSIONATE your son was tonight! He made this stressed out momma pause for a moment and realize this is exactly what we parents are trying to do, raise great humans. Well Wyatt sir, you are an amazing human!!!”

Now, here is where it got interesting.

Not one to let it go, Reed eventually convinced Wyatt’s mom to let her pay him back. In the process she learned that Wyatt was saving up to buy a car, so she decided to go the extra mile and once again, after getting his mom’s approval, started a GoFundMe page.

Are you ready for this?

As of Oct. 7, she had raised nearly $35,000 from more than 2,000 donors!

Suffice it to say, Wyatt was shocked. He will receive the money at a McDonald’s ceremony that will honor him for his kind gesture.

But also importantly, Brittany has been overwhelmed by the amount of support she and the cashier have received. “I honestly didn’t expect this to travel like it has at all!” And once again, she affirmed, “I was hoping it got to his parents so that they could hear how awesome their kiddo was because, at the end of the day, that’s all we truly want as parents: to raise good humans.”

As a parent, I think she got it right—we all want to raise good humans. Perhaps that is why these words that Paul wrote in Ephesians can encourage all of us to not just raise good humans, but be good humans: “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other.”

Personally I know a lot of “good humans” who have blessed me with their uncommon acts of kindness. A couple of years ago, when I took the opportunity to thank one of these people for being so kind to me and my family, he smiled and said: “Mike, pay it forward, because kindness never goes out of style!”