Soup at Shoneys

One evening my family went out to eat at Shoneys, which is a sit-down type family restaurant.  As we were talking and eating my dad motioned for the waitress to come over.  He asked her to discreetly bring him the bill for the guy sitting a couple of tables away, and to just tell this guy that the bill was taken care of.

My mom leaned in to my father so that she could talk to him without the rest of us hearing.  That of course meant we worked extra hard to listen.  She asked my dad why he had paid for this strangers meal.

"Well, I noticed he came in and he doesn't have the nicest clothes, he only ordered the soup bar, but he filled his bowl several times.  I think he's genuinely down on his luck and very hungry.  I'm hoping this will help him out."

The waitress told the man that he would have no bill today, and that his dinner was taken care of.  This scruffy looking child of God stared at the waitress as though she was speaking Chinese, but he did not look upset.  My mom nodded in approval and the meal went on.

King Benjamin's speech is perfect here: "ye will not suffer that the beggar putteth up his petition to you in vain, and turn him out to perish.   Perhaps thou shalt say: The man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore I will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance that he may not suffer, for his punishments are just—  But I say unto you, O man, whosoever doeth this the same hath great cause to repent; and except he repenteth of that which he hath done he perisheth forever, and hath no interest in the kingdom of God.   For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?"  (Mosiah 4:16-19).  My father had just demonstrated what it really means to notice the poor, and help them.  He did it remembering, "when ye shall do your alms do not sound a trumpet before you, as will hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men." (Matthew 6:2).

But surprisingly this isn't the lesson I actually want to emphasize with this story.  I the really important part is that I still remember exactly what happened.  My mom and dad probably don't remember, they helped people out all the time.  They tried to be discreet which means they don't expect me to have noticed.  And yet that experience is engraved into my memory.  That example of charity and compassion has had a bigger impact on me than hundreds of lectures and lessons.  I have since tried to notice when someone around me is hurting or needing help, and I commit to myself that I will be willing to sacrifice to serve them.

I want to do good because my children will see it, even when I try to hide it, and they will forever remember what love and service really mean.  The Lord said, "Therefore I give unto you a commandment, to teach these things freely unto your children" (Moses 6:58).  I don't remember a lot of the things my father said, but a bowl of soup at Shoneys is a lesson I can never forget.