I have a close friend who tells the story of how used to live next door to a poor couple who had a little girl about five years old. He knew that she didn’t have many toys and she played by her self often in the back yard.
One day my friend went to the neighbor and explained that the church where he attended at the time had some toys left over from a previous years Christmas toy drive. He very unassumingly asked the little girl’s father if he would like some of the left over toys for his daughter.
The father was pleased to receive them… In truth there were no left over toys, though there had been a toy drive. My friend went to the store and filled a shopping cart full with toys and clothes. He didn’t have a lot of money himself and it was a sacrifice to do it.
It was a sacrifice that was well worth the cost. One day my friend and his wife saw the little girl skipping to school carrying the doll that they had bought her. They were both moved to tears. Though the little girl had been blessed, they had been blessed much more… because they had been used by God as agents of mercy and had been part of a conspiracy of kindness.