Generosity at the pump and pie cart

If there’s one thing I hate, it is buying petrol in two bob bits. At 10:30 one night I had to catch the late post at the GPO and I was low on petrol. To make matters worse, I had only 15 cents in silver. But I was lucky to meet a young friend of mine, and he put in not only one but two 20 cent coins. That cheered me up.

At the GPO I popped in my letter and was about to leave, when in came four little fellows aged about twelve – not even teenagers. They roamed about aimlessly; one hopped on to the scales and poked his finger into the slot. "Hullo", I said to myself, "here’s trouble. They’ll either smash something, or get picked up by the police for vagrancy". One of them came up to me, peeled off his cap and said: "Hallo father. Remember me? You took us for Religious Instruction at school". "What’s your name" I asked. "Mario". "Hallo, Mario. You’re up late tonight!" "Oh, we went ice-skating and spent all our money. We’ll have to walk home now." So I offered them a lift. Down the steps we went, round the corner…and there was a pie cart. "do you want a pie"" they accepted the offer. I gave Mario a dollar, he paid for their pies and gave me the change. Total cost? Thirty nine cents! On the way home I chuckled to myself. There was the gift I’d received at the petrol pump.

Help us to see your generous hand even in such incidents as the petrol pump and the pie cart. Amen.