Are you willing to do it when no one is looking? I think I do things for good reasons. I think I have really pure motives.  But I was reminded today once again that reality is my friend.  My motives are not nearly as pure as I would like to think.  I discovered that my ego is indeed as big as Texas itself.

Last month at church we underwent a period of 40 days of fasting and prayer.  Our Family Minister compiled a calendar with suggested activities for each day.  It was great.  Sometime during that experience I decided that I would start doing one random act of kindness everyday that would be as anonymous a possible.

My random acts have turned out to be a lot of fun.  And there is no shortage of opportunities.  Everyday the door of opportunity swings open. In fact, today was no exception.  The occasion to do something for someone else arose right in front of me.  I jumped on it and it, and was able to keep it reasonably secret.  The person on the receiving end had no idea who was responsible for the kind act.  That made it even more fun!! 

It gets muddy from this point on.  I wanted to share this experience with someone else. I am a talker and I like to share my adventures.  But that ruins the intent of the gesture.  I had to zip my mouth shut and go on about my business.

In terms of the bigger picture, I was reminded that we all like someone to acknowledge what we have done.  It feeds our ego.  My giving and random acts must remain anonymous.  If I keep the process up, I will benefit as much or more than the person on the receiving end.  I might actually learn a few lessons about humility. I might learn that serving out of the limelight shapes character.

I want to share my adventures, but I won’t.  I won’t because I have a lot to learn about giving in secret.  I have a lot to learn about shrinking an ego instead of letting it grow unchecked.  I really want to do things for good reasons, but that will only happen if I serve in secret.  Are you willing to do it when no one is looking?