Payback in Pansies by Pamela McCormick

The Bible says what you sow, you will reap. It was a normal day at school. I was teaching an Algebra class. One of my students walked in, rather disoriented, not sure why, but instead of his usual dose of Algebraic equations, I offered him a day off to lie down on a couch in the corner of my room. Little did I know at the time, that he needed the rest.

Not to be reminded of it again for ten years. I had come home for lunch. I was no longer a high school teacher but now a college math lab tutor. My husband had asked some guys to do some landscape work in our yard and add in a plot of pansies. I pulled into the garage, got out of my car and heard a voice say, “Mrs. McCormick.” He told me that I probably didn’t remember him, so he began to tell me more. He asked if I remembered the day I let him skip class and rest on the couch. I remembered. He told me that he deserved punishment, because he had come to school drunk. He was struggling due to family problems, and although he was underage, he couldn’t handle it.

He told me that my kindness to him made him question why. He knew I could have turned him in and then he would be expelled, but I didn’t. He went on to finish high school and get a great job with a landscaping business. He told me that he was getting ready to quit school and just give up, but because of my kindness, he didn’t. He told me he told a lot of people about me. He never thought he would see me again, and then that day… he was planting pansies in my yard. Little do we know when we demonstrate acts of kindness towards others what God can do with it, but just showing love is what this life is all about. God is in charge of the rest, and the payoff is lives changed. Thank God for opportunities to share His love and thank God for His blessings that come in sweet packages, when left in His hands.

We may never know the impact of our acts of kindness on this earth, but I pray that God will continue to use me to build His kingdom on this earth, and that means loving others the way He loves us, unconditionally.

“If I don’t have love, I am nothing.” I Corinthians 13:2

“We love, because He first loved us.” I John 4:19