Late yesterday afternoon I called up my mom who was en route to D.C.. I think I may have started the conversation out with something like, “My give-away was a flop!” She laughed. I do believe I had prefaced the post with the possibility that it could either be divine inspiration or a HUMUNGOUS flop, hoping that the divine really did have something to do with my idea. In any case, as I was talking about the one person who threw her hat in the ring to participate in the “pay it forward” give-away, my mom gently pointed out that this was not entirely a flop.
Tammy, whom I have known for some 25 years, is the winner of the My Bangs Look Good and Other Lies I Tell Myself give-away. I’m so happy for her because she was the very first person to comment on my book review too (I kind of get the impression that she really wants this book!), and she is one of my closest friends in the world. When we were high school seniors I recall sitting poolside on a beautiful sunny day in Nairobi and laughing our heads off at some pretty strange humor we were sharing. Kindred we were, and kindred we still are. We called ourselves “soul sisters”. Yes. We were a little bit dorky, but that’s what makes our friendship so dear to me.
Now, for the reason that I have come to realize that this give-away was not a flop. Only one person’s name could be drawn anyway. Only one person would receive a copy of the book from me, and that person would then be responsible for paying it forward. Had nobody commented on the post, then it would have been a flop. But by the very fact that someone commented, this book will make its way to Tammy, and she’ll pass it on to another girlfriend, and so on and so forth. This is not a flop to me. This was the soul purpose of the give-way. Mission Accomplished.
Which brings me to my Friday’s Free Advice: Pay It Forward.
It could be anything: a cup of coffee, a compliment, a door opened, a note of encouragement. We have all received unsolicited acts of kindness from a friend or stranger at some point. (Quite possibly already once this morning.) My advice? Pay it forward. Think of how touching it is to be the recipient of a random act of kindness. It feels great. So, why can’t we pass those good feelings on? Not only is it sweet to receive, but even more so to extend a genuine act of thoughfulness.
Little or small, it will bring you much more joy than the person you are blessing! Trust me. I can’t wait to get Tammy’s book shipped off to her. In fact, I need to wrap this up quickly so that I can do just that!
Pay it forward, one random act of kindess at a time!
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Amy, God has found you to be faithful in the small things… Now, He can trust you with the “bigger” things. I love watching what He is doing in you… and how you are being faithful to Him.
YOU INSPIRE!
WHOO HOO! That is the nicest thing ever! You are my soul sister! I will never forget that day.
WE ARE DORKS and my biscuit will stay buttered 
Love you forever and thank you, truly from the bottom of my heart- not just for the book, but for your friendship…you have helped shape my life and it’s better for it!! HUGS!!!
Amy,
Just so you know, I did post something but for some reason it didn’t go through. I am disappointed because I really wanted to be in the running for that book:)
Love you
Tahnya
Oh- now i can post a second OOPS moment- I didn’t realize the giveaway had already happened and posted my lemon fresh oops moment just this evening… too late- but hope you’ll laugh a bit :O) Jed made fun of me for days and my friend who noticed my clapping to kill the bugs is a firefighter who shared the incident with his entire station and then some… Yep- i’m already creating quite the reputation here in SD :O) MISS YOU!
[...] am also a big fan of random acts of kindness. Not too long ago I posted a challenge of my own. Doing something for someone just for the sake of doing it, to me, is one of the most powerful [...]