9 years ago, I found myself struggling in life. The “struggle” felt cyclical and continued to haunted me for quite awhile. At the time, I was barely making enough money to keep food on the table, let alone trying to catch up on the mortgage payments that we had fallen behind on. What made my financial anxiety worse was the incoming Christmas holiday. When I should have been focused on the real meaning of Christmas, my was focus was how to keep our house and how I would pay for Christmas.
On Christmas Eve, I received a call from my wife near the end of my shift at Lowes. She was crying happy tears saying someone had come by and dropped off Christmas gifts for the family. There was an initial relief that I had been bailed out as the tree looked bare before I left that morning.
When I arrived home I noticed a couple of garbage bags and other gifts in our living room. I went to my wife who had an look of joy on her face. She began to share the story of what happened.
She was in our kitchen baking Christmas cookies that we were going to give away as gifts. When she turned around she noticed an individual coming up our sidewalk with a letter sized envelop. She shared that she immediately thought that this was our eviction notice and her heart sank when the doorbell rang.
As she went to the door, she gathered the courage and strength to answer. The man asked who she was and she acknowledged. He handed her the envelop and began to walk away. She held the white envelop and heard him say there was more.
My wife began to cry as should could barely find the words to share. She continued saying, “I looked down and it was addressed to us. In the top left hand corner it read the Knights of Columbus and I began to open it. The man was carrying to garbage bags with gifts in it. He brought the gifts in the house and said there’s more.”
He came back with more gifts and gave them to my wife and handed her a small box. He shared that someone had nominated our family and the Knights chose our family to give a Christmas to. My wife was in awe and offered him some cookies as thanks. He smiled and took one. He said “Merry Christmas” and he was gone.
We never found out who nominated us or who was the person that brought the gifts. However, they changed the course of my life for the better. The act of giving during this time of need was welcomed. My wife and I are eternally grateful for this unselfish act. It gave us a nudge in the right direction to give me the confidence to find the job I wanted that ultimately led me to entrepreneurship.
Looking back, I am grateful that we had gone through financial issues and been able to overcome the problem. It might be odd to read that, however, we would not be as strong as we are today if we didn’t go through it.
This past Sunday our church announced an opportunity to help give a child a similar Christmas. A wave of emotion came over me to take this chance and give back. We are very blessed to be able to help and the family is looking to pay it forward. If you are in the position to help a child or a family out this coming holiday, they will definitely appreciate it. And so will the parents...
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