PAY. IT. FORWARD.

To repay the good deeds one has received by doing good things for other unrelated people.

The premise — based on the book and movie “Pay It Forward” — is to act without the expectation of being paid back, but with the hope that the recipient pays the favor forward by helping someone else.

A few weeks ago I bagged up a ton of Grace's clothes that she had outgrown and took them to my school to give to one of my students parents. The clothes were still in perfect condition just too small. We LOVE hand me downs in the U.S. so I didn't think anything of it. When I brought them to the school one of my Chinese co-workers asked me what I was doing with the clothes and I told her I was going to pass them on to one of my students that was a little smaller than Grace. My Co-worker immediately said you can't do that here, did you ask the parents in advance? You can't do that at the school. I didn't understand. She basically said that it would embarrass the parents if I did that here and I needed to ask them in private first. She said we don't do stuff like that here in China. I told her it wasn't targeted at anyone in particular, just that I didn't want to throw the clothes away and wanted someone else to use them. She continued to tell me that it would be VERY uncomfortable if I offered these to the mother without talking to her about it first.

After hauling them back home that day, I left the clothes bagged up in our apartment for a few weeks. I knew that there were tons of people that could use these clothes, so I decided I would take them out into the courtyard of the community while no one was looking and just leave them there for someone to go through on their own.

I went back into my apartment and within 5 minutes I looked out of my window to see a crowd of grandma's and moms gathered around the bags of clothes, checking them all out and all choosing some to take. They looked so excited all chatting with each other and showing the others what they got.

I realized in that moment that sometimes it feels even better to do something for someone without expecting a thank you in return, or without being noticed.

I recently read a quote from Max Lucado that said " Do good things. Just don't do them to be noticed. You can be too good for your own good." How awesome is that... Love it, and it's so true.

It reminds me how great it feels when someone has done a "random act of kindness for me" or paid it forward by helping me. I think the world would be a much happier place if we all we made it a goal to "pay it forward" at least once a week. It doesn't have to cost anything. You never know just how far it will go when you do something nice for a stranger.

I believe each of us has the power to better someone’s life simply by doing small favors, somtimes anonymously.

I'll leave you with one last quote by Max Lucado that I love ....

"Slay the desire to be noticed. Stir the desire to serve God."

God Bless,

Jessica