Extravagant generosity. Thursday is my child minding day and from 10 till 5 we are pretty much on the go with playing, nap time, feeding, attending an afternoon group session, doing a school run and more feeding. I wasn't entirely sure where or how I was going to fit in extravagant generosity. I also didn't have a clue what my act of generosity was going to be. I've thought about it all day and settled on heading to Starbucks after work and buying someone coffee. It didn't feel that extravagant but the challenge also talked about being uncomfortable. If I was to buy someone coffee then that would mean engaging them in a conversation, possibly having to explain what I was doing it for, running a massive risk they would think I was a complete weirdo! Yup, I think I was definitely going to encounter uncomfort!!!!!
So....deep breath and into Starbucks I went. There was no one in the queue so I had to take an extremely long time deciding what my order was going to be while waiting for someone to join the queue. I praying hard for an elderly lady, old people are always nice and easy to chat to. Instead I got a young, trendy looking couple. I placed my order, turned to them and asked if I could buy their drinks. Phew, I'd got the sentence out! I was met with silence while they looked at me, looked at each other, looked back at me....this went on for what felt like hours. Okay, I needed to say something. I repeated my request and added something about just wanting to bless them and that I wasn't a weirdo. By saying I wasn't a weirdo I immediately sounded like one! This time the girl spoke, she was very lovely in declining my request. Against my better judgement I pushed a tiny bit harder and said something about the 40acts challenges. They still declined the offer. The Starbucks guy behind the till who was watching this whole thing play out tried to make a joke, nothing was going to cover my embarrassment but thank you Mr Barista for trying. And just to make things that little bit worse, they took FOREVER over making my chocolate frappe and so we had the awkward wait for our drinks, no eye contact, no more conversation, just pure awkwardness in all it's glory.
I am never ever ever doing that again! I think I've definitely ticked off uncomfortable for today! Despite my failure I still wanted to do something generous. On my way back to the car I saw a homeless girl who regularly sits on our High Road asking for money. Ash and I have helped her out in the past so I know her name is Abi, she's 17 and I know a little bit about her life. Some other lovely people had clearly helped Abi out today as she had a drink in her hand and a McDonalds bag by her side. My act of generosity was to buy her a Sainburys gift card so she could go and buy some food or anything she needed. It wasn't a big deal, much less scary than offering to buy someone coffee yet much more rewarding. I'm so glad God gave me that chance to not only be generous but to really help someone who actually needed the generosity.
