Karin received her Bachelor degree from Brigham Young University in English. After pursuing 2 years of international travel, including Russia, China and Taiwan to teach to English, she met her husband who inspired her to plant her roots in Utah and start a family. She is now the busy mother of 5 energetic children. She is an active volunteer at her children’s elementary school and enjoys reading, hiking, international travel, music and dancing in her kitchen when no one is looking.

A couple of years ago, I happened upon an article by Jason Wright about the 12 Days of Service he does with his family, leading up to Christmas. You can find the list HERE. The second year we followed this plan, I had a particularly touching experience doing something completely uncomfortable in a completely unconventional place. That’s how the Spirit likes to work in my life though, using uncomfortable and sometimes random circumstances to make a point.

“Day 2: Do something nice for someone you don’t know.” Knowing that two of my children had a white elephant party in their school class coming up, I loaded up the van with my children and headed to the dollar store in search of gifts. I had already predetermined that the dollar store is where we would perform our service.

The children wandered and hemmed and hawed over which plastic toy to pick for their party. The aisles were crowded with people making quick purchases. It was, after all, the week before Christmas and school, family and neighborhood parties were in full swing. I looked toward the check out line and sighed. It stretched 7 people long. When the children finally made their selection, we filed over to take our place in line. As the line slowly moved forward, my children ran back and forth, exchanging gifts for something they deemed better until we were finally ready ring up the purchases.

As the toys passed the scanner, I told the clerk I would like to pay for the woman behind me in line. The line was long and noisy and I knew the woman hadn’t heard me. She had 4 large, clear glasses in her cart. I turned to her and asked if it would be ok if I paid for her purchase. Immediately I felt my face flush red. I was keenly aware of not only the attention of the clerk and the woman I had spoken too, but all the other people waiting in line. I was more than warm and wished I had shed my jacket earlier, before the attention was on me. I was physically and socially uncomfortable in the highest order. I began to sweat in the nanoseconds of time it took for the surprised woman to respond.

“Well…I…uh…that’s,” she stammered. As if a decision had been made in her mind she nodded and said, “Actually, that would be nice.”

I wondered at the wording of her response and turned to pay the clerk. I gathered my bags and waited for the clerk to wrap the woman’s glasses before I turned back to her and wished her Merry Christmas. Her tear-filled eyes took me by surprise. “Thank you so much,” she said and reached for me. “These glasses are for my niece’s funeral.” We embraced for a short moment and then she left. I stood still amidst the bustle of the dollar store, wondering. The scanner beeped, bags rustled and my children clung close to me, knowing something special had transpired but not fully understanding.

That’s the magic of service, isn’t it. The key is determing that we will serve. We must be willing to act in whatever capacity we are able. God will magnify our offering, large or small and work it into His grand design. He is the master weaver of good works. Sometimes we know our affect and sometimes we don’t. Often, it may be uncomfortable for us in the moment. The important thing is that we are doing something.


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