You're welcome, I guess
I’ve never been particularly gracious about receiving thanks or favors or accolades for helping others. Aside from the fact that I simply enjoy being helpful, it’s just part of my independent streak. But I’ve learned that, while it may seem gracious to refuse thanks or recompense, you often bless the person doing the thanking by allowing them to bless you in turn. Below is a neat example of this maxim at work and following it is an example of a situation I’m not sure how to handle:
A couple weeks ago I worked on the car of the daughter of one of the sisters at church. She compensated me for a part I bought, but tried to overpay me. I refused, but took her up on her offer to pay for my dinner at a get-together we were having the next day. So the next day we meet up at the restaurant and I happen to run into two old friends. I figure, hey, since she’s paying for my dinner I’ll just use the money I would have spent to do something nice for my friends. I surprise them by sending over the waitress with the message that their desert’s on me. So you see, one act of service—fixing the car—blessed me, the woman at church, her daughter and my two friends. Five for the price of one. How awesome is that?!
A similar situation occurred yesterday only the woman wrote me a check which I didn’t look at until later, only to discover she overpaid as a way of saying thanks. I appreciate the sentiment, but I feel awkward about taking money straight up because I fix cars as part of the Car Clinic at church—a ministry I do as a way of taking the skills I was blessed with and returning them in service to the Lord. I do appreciate the thanks, but the thanks should really be directed heavenward. If I could redo this whole thing I would have told her to keep the money and instead, if she really wanted to do something for me, she should pray about what she might do. I know it’s our gut reaction to thank folks with money, but that’s our reaction; the Lord may have had something else in mind entirely and maybe it didn’t even involve me.
So I’m debating whether to cash the check, return her the difference and tell her what I wrote about in the preceding paragraph.
A couple weeks ago I worked on the car of the daughter of one of the sisters at church. She compensated me for a part I bought, but tried to overpay me. I refused, but took her up on her offer to pay for my dinner at a get-together we were having the next day. So the next day we meet up at the restaurant and I happen to run into two old friends. I figure, hey, since she’s paying for my dinner I’ll just use the money I would have spent to do something nice for my friends. I surprise them by sending over the waitress with the message that their desert’s on me. So you see, one act of service—fixing the car—blessed me, the woman at church, her daughter and my two friends. Five for the price of one. How awesome is that?!
A similar situation occurred yesterday only the woman wrote me a check which I didn’t look at until later, only to discover she overpaid as a way of saying thanks. I appreciate the sentiment, but I feel awkward about taking money straight up because I fix cars as part of the Car Clinic at church—a ministry I do as a way of taking the skills I was blessed with and returning them in service to the Lord. I do appreciate the thanks, but the thanks should really be directed heavenward. If I could redo this whole thing I would have told her to keep the money and instead, if she really wanted to do something for me, she should pray about what she might do. I know it’s our gut reaction to thank folks with money, but that’s our reaction; the Lord may have had something else in mind entirely and maybe it didn’t even involve me.
So I’m debating whether to cash the check, return her the difference and tell her what I wrote about in the preceding paragraph.
posted by anchovy @ 11:11 PM
3 Comments:
At 9:28 AM,
Grant said…
Or you could cash it and do something good with the extra money, like get drunk and kill Paris Hilton. That's paying it forward.
At 3:14 PM,
mal said…
I was in a quandry until I read Grants suggestion.....I think he is on to something with Paris Hilton
*L*
Seriously, cash the check and if you feel guilty about the money, put it in the next collection plate or some other worthy purpose
At 1:12 AM,
anchovy said…
I think I can manage a couple bottles of Night Train fortified wine and a 32 of St. Ides malt liquor with the extra money. If I find Ms. Hilton, though, I can totally see her wresting the gun from my hands and mugging me for the bottles.
I wonder if anyone out there is googling "kill Paris Hilton."
Mal, you're right once more. I'll cash it, say thanks, and put aside the money for more parts. Some folks don't even have enough to pay for parts. (Only L.A. in do poor folks use their last pennies to pay for gas!)
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