Pay it Forward

When Jason and I were first married, we had some amazing friends who took us under their wings and took care of us. We were poor ( a full-time student and a social worker) and they fed us and gave us furniture and loved us. We would always ask if we could pay them back and they refused every time. They always told us that someday we wouldn't be this poor and we would be able to help someone else.

So, we decided to Pay it Forward. Pay it Forward is where you help someone else, rather than paying back the person who helped you. It has been a motto for our whole marriage. Even when we move away from Ohio and and hardly ever saw the amazing Berryhill family again, we always have remembered their kindness to us.

Sometimes Paying it Forward has been very small. Other times, we have been able to help out in a much bigger way.

The thing I like about it, is that you feel so good about doing it. Just like service. Because it is a lot like service! In fact, it really is service with a "fancy" name! But it is that added component of gratitude that I like. Remembering that someone else did something for you and you are grateful to them and you are showing your gratitude by helping someone else.

I hate to waste perfectly good things. If I can find someone to use them, then I try and pass it on. I find it hard in the area I live in to pass things on because people have so much! So, I send stuff to my family. I know they appreciate it and will use it and will pass it on if they cannot use themselves.

For years we have passed on boy clothes and girl clothes to my sister, Eliza. She is very grateful and has asked many times how much they owe us. I always tell her to Pay it Forward.

The other day she called me and told me she had done just that. I cried as I listened to her tell me the situation of this sweet young couple and how she had been able to help them. My heart was bursting with gratitude for the things I have been blessed with. I was so touched as my sister reminded me that she was Paying it Forward from all the things we had done for her over the years.

That is what it is all about. Big or small, helping someone in remembrance of being helped is the greatest way to serve another person. Thank you, Eliza, for making my day! That is the BEST payback you could ever give me! I love you!