Lunch with God

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies & a six-pack of root beer, and he started his journey.

When he had gone a few blocks from home, he met an old man. He was sitting in the park near the water just staring at some birds.

The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer, when he noticed that the old man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie.

The old man gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. His smile was so incredible that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer.

Once again, he smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was, and he got up to leave, but before he had gone more than a few steps; he turned around, and ran back to the old man, and gave him a hug.

The old man gave him his biggest smile ever, When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked her son: "What did you do today that made you so happy?"

The child replied: "I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added: "You know what? He's got the most beautiful smile I've ever seen!

Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and asked: "Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied: "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." But before his son responded, he added: "You know, He's much younger than I expected.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring. All of which have the potential to make someone's day a very special one, or even turn someone's life around.

-  Author Unknown

Wynton Marsalis on Soul:

When you have the ability to make other people feel better about being alive regardless of their condition.   

Taking his morning walk on the beach, a man sees thousands of starfish washed ashore. The tide is going down and these starfish are stranded on dry land. The man sees, ahead of him, a child bending down, picking up something, and throwing it into the ocean. As he gets near, he sees that the child is picking up starfish, one by one, and throwing them back into the ocean. The man says to the boy "There's so many starfish on the beach. You can't make a difference." The boy looks at the adult and says nothing. He simply bends down and picks up another starfish and throws it back into the ocean. Then the child speaks and says "It made a difference to that one."

We too can make a difference to that "one". One step at a time, one word at a time, one action at a time. Even if our action seems very small to our own eyes, it will make a huge difference for "that one" which is directly affected. Our actions and words are powerful in tearing down and in building up.  Build up!