My father in law gets a magazine called Reminisce. It's pretty interesting, but a bit unsettling because it makes me realize how old I'm getting whenever I look through it. Anyhow, it has this monthly feature called "The Nicest Thing That Anyone Ever Did For Me". I was reading this column and it made me stop and ask myself what the nicest thing anyone ever did for ME was. The answer made me feel a little bit ashamed of myself. You see, I was sifting through my memory, trying to decide which little kindness shown to me over the years might qualify as the nicest thing when it hit me like a lightning bolt. The answer is the same for everyone on earth, and for everyone who has ever lived. The nicest thing, the most awesome and incredible, astonishing thing anyone has ever done for another person was the thing Jesus did for us all when He offered up His own life for the remission of the sins of all mankind. I can't believe that my first thought wasn't of Him when I began considering this queston. It will be from now on, though.
I think the nicest thing anyone did for me is my mother, going through 9 months of pregnancy,with all the vomiting, backpain, and whatnot that goes with it; then later having her stomach cut open to get me out. That's huge in my eyes. Something one can never be thankful enough for: the gift of life.
It reminds him that everything around him is going to disappear someday. The nicest thing anyone ever did for me was to break my heart. when it split open I found out that the real me had been trapped inside it all those years.
When I was in college, I went to a weekend retreat sponsored by Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship. A girl I had never met before bought me a year's subscription to "His" magazine. It may not seem like much now but I have spent the last 35 years trying to pay her back.