Twinkies and Root Beer

Every time I’m called on to do something for someone else I can’t help getting the feeling, “I don’t have time for this right now”. Yet it seems when I get past that selfish feeling, helping someone else in their time of need always works out for the best with plenty of time to spare. The older I get the more time I find for others and the happier I seem to be with my everyday schedule of things. If you’re feeling down and lost as what to do in life, try helping someone else. I don’t mean dictate to and change someone else’s life according to your thinking, because that will only produce another messed-up you. No, just simply help someone successfully negotiate their day on their terms. It’s amazing what a body can learn by living someone else’s life for a few hours.
"The purpose of life is not to be happy - but to matter, to be productive, to be useful, to have it make some difference that you have lived at all." Leo Rosten
More than half a century ago, a Johns Hopkins professor gave a group of graduate students an assignment. They were to go to the slums and find 200 boys, aged 12 to 16, investigate their background and environment, and predict their chances for the future. After their interviews, the researchers concluded that 90 percent would spend time in jail. Twenty-five years later, another group of graduate students went back to test the prediction. They found that some of the boys, now men, were still there. A few had died and some had moved away, but the researchers were able to locate 180 of the original 200. They found that only four had ever been in jail! Why? The answer came: “Well, there was this teacher…” In three-fourths of the cases, it was the same woman. The researchers found her in a home for retired teachers and asked her how she had exerted such remarkable influence over a group of slum children. Her only answer was, “I loved those boys.”
[Luke 10: 25-34] A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of Root Beer and started his journey. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an elderly man. The man was sitting in the park feeding some pigeons. The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the man looked hungry, so he offered him a Twinkie. The man gratefully accepted it and smiled at the boy. His smile was so pleasant that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Again, the man smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon, eating and smiling, but never saying a word. As the shadows grew long the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave. Before he had gone more than a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the man and gave him a big hug. The man gave him the biggest smile ever. When the boy opened the door to his house, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, “What did you do today that made you so happy?” He replied, “I had lunch with God.” Before his mother could respond he added, “Ya know what? God’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!” Meanwhile, the elderly man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son was stunned by the look of peace on his face and asked, “Dad, what did you do today that made you so happy?” He replied, “I ate Twinkies with God in the park. You know, he’s a lot younger than I expected.” Peace.