Thoughtful Idea

My daughter is getting married and as a result, I have many projects in progress.  A friend offered to help with one of the projects.  We went to her house, worked on the project and visited all day.  I learned a lot about my friend that day.  She is known as a very giving person, both of herself and her finances.  As we were talking I asked, "Do you know how much you give away?"  She answered, "Yes, but since I was in that position one time, I give to others now."  When I didn't understand, she proceeded to tell me of the time her child was sick and her husband unemployed.  She told me how the church had raised money to pay for the child's hospital care.

My friend told me about church members driving the 85 miles the hospital to sit in the waiting room with her and her husband while their child was in ICU.  The members created baskets of food for the anxious parents and their visitors.  Then she told me about something that I thought was the most thoughtful of all.  One church member brought a jar of change, mostly quarters, because they needed quarters to leaved the garage parking lot. 

How many of us have jars of change sitting around?  What do we do with it?  We dust around it.  We grab a few quarters out of it for the soda machine or toll way.  Have you ever considered how helpful that old jar of change would be to someone required to go for medical treatment on a regular basis?  How helpful would it be to that person to know they had the correct change for parking or tollway?  The next time you hear of a friend who will be receiving ongoing medical treatment, I hope you think about that old jar of coins in your closet.  It might be trash to you, but it could be a treasure to someone else.