Ponderings #17

Dear fellow travelers,

Welcome to our new travelers and thank you all again for your comments, you are a blessing to me.

A Small Act of Kindness, Long Remembered

Many years ago I was attending a three day Revelations Conference, hosted by Rev. Michael Beckwith, founder of the Agape International Spiritual Center, located in LA, Ca. This was my first time at one of his conferences. But I had heard Rev Michael speak over the years, when he was on the East coast.

It was late in the afternoon, I had skipped lunch, and my hunger pangs were increasing. I slipped out of the ballroom, our main conference room, into the lobby in search for one of the hospitality tables. The hotel had set up tables with food for our breaks, but all the tables had been cleared. The refreshment tables were bare!

I noticed a petite, elegant women standing behind a counter, and me in need of food,  jumped at the opportunity to rescue a cookie from a "hotel representative."

I said something like, "Do you have anything that resembles a cookie back there, I skipped lunch and I'm starving?"

This calm, elegant women looked down behind the counter and after a few seconds came up with a brown lunch bag and started to search thru it. She took out a plastic bag with some cookies in it and said,

"Take what you want".

I took a cookie and thanked her. Then I came to my senses and realized she was not a hotel employee and this was her personal food supply.

Being really mortified and embarrassed, I apologized for my abruptness and thanked her again for her generosity.

And then I looked at her name tag "Alice Beckwith".

I asked her if she was related to Rev. Michael, she said, "Yes, I am his mother." She went on to tell me she was in charge of the vendors. I have always remembered this interchange with great love and warmth.

I am sad to write that Alice Beckwith transitioned this morning.

She was truly a women who "Walked the Talk", of kindness, humility, humbleness and generosity.

Her energy is and will always be around us all.

I have been thinking a lot these last few days of my later interactions with Rev Michael and Rickie,  and my condolences go to them and all their family.

Sometimes, one some act of kindness is all it takes for a lasting heartfelt, warm memory.

Thank you!  in great gratitude for all the kind, humble people I know, and you are one of them.    

Just ponderings on kindness,

Linda Patton, RScP, ENTC

Blog address http://Ponderings-everyday-spirituality.blogspot.com