"Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days." - (Ecc. 11:1).
A poor young man was selling goods door-to-door to pay his way through school. Being hungry and not having sufficient money to buy a meal, he decided he would ask for one at the next house. However, when a lovely young lady answered the door he lost his nerve and asked only for a drink of water. She brought him a glass of milk instead. He drank it and asked, "How much do I owe you?" "You don't owe me anything." she answered. "Mother has taught me to never accept payment for a kindness." "Then I thank you from my heart," he said. The young man left that house refreshed and with a renewed faith in man and God.
Some years passed and that same benevolent young woman became critically ill. Her illness baffled the local doctors, and so, the family was forced to send her to the big city where there were specialists to tend to her. One particular specialist was called for consultation on her illness. When he heard her name and hometown a look of familiarity came over his face. He went directly down the hallway to her hospital room, recognized her at once and returned to his office determined to give special attention to her case. It wasn't easy or brief, but after a long struggle the disease was cured. That same doctor requested that the bill be passed to him for approval. When he received it, he wrote something across it and sent it back to the woman's room. Suspecting an enormous bill that would take the rest of her life to pay, she opened it with great suspense but to her relief found this note written across the face of it: PAID IN FULL WITH ONE GLASS OF MILK. Signed, Dr. Howard Kelly.
Well, this goes to show that we never know what good we can do with just a very simply act of kindness. Yes, the writer was correct when he wrote, "Cast your bread upon the waters, For you will find it after many days."
Lonnie Ritchie