Nine Dollars

The other day while walking home from work, I found nine dollars on the side of the road.  Provo had been somewhat stormy all day, so the money was gently fluttering in the breeze.  I quickly picked all the bills up before a stronger gust came through. 

As a bit of background, I am as broke as. . . well, a starving college student--so it was nice to see a little bit of luck come my way.  Then I saw a receipt right next to where I found the bills.  It was for a three entree meal at Panda Express, which was about 25 yards from where I was standing.  The person paid for their meal with a $20, and received $9.24 in change. According to the time on the receipt, they paid for it about ten minutes before I found the money.

I looked around for this mystery Panda Express customer and couldn't see anyone.  Then I walked into the Panda Express and looked for someone that had a three entree meal, and I couldn't see anyone that fit that description either.  At this point I decided that whoever it was that dropped the $9 was probably long gone and I should just keep the cash.

Is it weird to feel slightly guilty about this?  

I mean, I was basically rewarded for not finding the owner of the money.  I could have asked the cashier if they remember who got the three entree meal.  I could have left the money with them in case the customer came back for it.

But truthfully, I doubt that person would have gotten their money back regardless of my actions, so perhaps my guilt is coming from a similar, but different, source.  Maybe I'm just feeling guilty for not doing enough random acts of service lately.  After all, I could  be doing a better job of holding the door open for people, I could do the dishes in my apartment more often, and I could be more diligent with my New Year's Resolution of giving out five compliments a day.

I recently taught a Sunday School lesson title "As I Have Loved You, Love One Another."  The lesson focused mainly on the last supper and Jesus' final discourse to His apostles before His death.  One of the big points of the lesson was Jesus' example of service by washing the feet of his disciples.

The commandment Jesus gave right after performing this act of service was "That ye love one another; as I have loved you," (John 13:34).  Do you realize what a tall order this is?

Only a chapter or two later, Jesus says "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

"Ye are my friends," (John 15: 13-14)

Kind of makes my five-complements-a-day resolution seem somewhat insignificant in comparison, doesn't it?