Ready; Set: Do Good!

…so they may see the good that you do and give glory to God. Matthew 5:16

What is the best good deed you’ve ever done for another person?  I hope as you fumble through your mind for that answer you have so many it ’s hard to choose.  Wouldn’t that make for an awesome world; if we did so many good things for others we couldn’t even recall each of them?  I had a week of really good things and as I sit here typing and thinking about them my heart is as warm as the coffee I’m sipping!  It was a crazy busy week so it might be easy to swish on by to the new week without remembering all the good events that touched my life.  As I share a few of mine, reach back through your memory and grab some of yours too.

Birthday treats for the class are definitely an elementary teacher perk,  especially the ones moms  around here send in!  One of my middle lovelies celebrated her birthday this week and she brought the best treat EVER!  All of the students got slushies but I got a delicious hot steaming cup of fresh coffee!  That was good; very good.  I got a cupcake from a kindergartner with a plastic football ring on top.  The bonus was he pulled it out of the cupcake, licked off the frosting and slipped it on my finger before I knew what was happening.  He told me it looked really good on me too.  That was good; very good.  I got a flower from a student, a new Rosary and prayers from my daughter as she visited the holiest places in Poland.  That was good; very good!  I got a fabulous drawing, a freezer full of fresh beef, a lovely date with my groom and an email from an old friend.  I got to watch a group of  12 year olds powerfully lead an entire school in Adoration prayers. It was a good week; a very good week!  Mr. Thelen was reading from the book of Genesis at morning prayer this week and the line that bounced in my ears each time he read was; “and God saw that it was good!”  

We may not be people of power, or riches or fame but we are certainly people capable of goodness.  I read the story of Gino Bartali the Italian Olympic cyclist recently and I was touched in a huge way. Gino would smuggle paperwork in the frame of his bike that was necessary to free Jewish people during WWII.  The soldiers let him ride right past because they thought he was training so he could bring home more gold medals. Little did they know he was making it possible for hundreds of Jewish men, women and children to escape to freedom and life.  After the war when the discovery of his great goodness was made, his simple reply was this.  “Good is something you do, not something  you talk about.  Some medals are pinned to your soul not to your jacket.”

So here’s to a week of medals pinned to our souls!  Make it a week of GOOD!  

A Seed To Plant: Make a plan to do five acts of pure goodness this week and ask God to bless the people who will receive those acts of goodness.

Blessings on your day!