Kind Words From a Stranger
by Anthony Hanna

On 03/03/03 I went to the grocery store to pick up some groceries for the family. My wife had left me a note "Things needed from the store". I got the kids dressed, my son Anthony and my daughter Cydney. I did not want to go because my kids some times drive me crazy.

At the store we got everything on the list and then some. We went and got in line to pay for our groceries. As we were waiting, a gentleman in the next line started to tell me that Cydney had dropped her pacifier. As I picked it up from the floor, the gentleman in the line next to me noticed how attentive I was to my children. This gentleman spoke kind words into my life. At the time I did not realize what a great complement it truly was. For a long time I had questioned myself, as to whether I was good enough as a father. Sometimes I felt like just walking away, giving up.

Somehow I think that those kind words from that total stranger were a message from God. "Can God provide me with His message through a complete stranger?," I asked myself. Why would a complete stranger, someone I have never seen before, give me such a wonderful complement? Was this God's way of telling me not to give up?

I do not know the answer, but I do know that I will never forget that day because I felt God's touch and warmth in my heart through the kind words of a complete stranger.

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