The Banana Story

...Planting bananas is a little like planting seeds; one never really knows what will grow. Let me explain. Several months ago I had to go the grocery store. Standing in the doorway was a beggar asking for spare change. I know better than to give money, so I told the person I would buy him some food. I wasn’t too sure what to buy; so I picked up chocolate milk, a cheese bun, and I figured some fruit, a banana. My intention was to hand my purchase over to the person on my way out, and I say, “ your welcome”. To my surprise when I went to find that person he was gone, nowhere in sight. I was a little ticked off. You see, I thought we had an agreement. I had wasted time and money on something I didn’t need to buy. Something else happened that day. We often pass by people in need, and I know we feel more compassion in us to help; why we don’t, is anybody’s guess. I grew up in a time when giving up your seat to an elderly person on the bus was just the way it was; or holding the door was the gentlemanly thing to do. Being polite, saying please and thank you was a sign of a good up bringing. That day I decided to buy food for someone in need has thought me a lesson in listening, in obedience. Sure the man was gone. It’s not so much in the giving, it’s more in the willingness to listen. At home I had some explaining to do. I don’t normally buy chocolate milk, so everyone who looked in the fridge asked, “Why do we have chocolate milk in our fridge?”
The other morning my wife tells me she has been buying something extra for that needy person standing in the doorway of our local grocery store. I was so surprised, and proud, when my son told me he gave some fruit from his lunch, to a homeless man in the park. Out of my obedience, I was the one who was blessed. Somehow my little act of kindness has moved other members in my family to listen to that voice. So you see when you plant seeds of kindness, of giving, of helps, of compassion; even if the seeds are disguised as bananas, who knows what will grow? Log-On