[The theme for our Service Anchors call this month was "planting seeds".  Below is a story I shared this morning.]

I want to share a story of how seeds planted in me are rippling out to my daughter.

Few months ago, we hosted a party for my daughter's third birthday. One of my neighbor's kids -- a three year old named Liam -- started playing with a particular toy that my daughter had and he enjoyed playing with it the whole evening.

Two days ago, Liam's father saw me at a nearby park and asked me, "Hey, Sairam, we are going to go to Hawaii and my son really liked that toy that your daughter had. Can you send me an Amazon link, or something, so he can play with it on the flight."

You know where this story is headed :). Right away, I knew I'm not going to send him a link. I went back and I ordered this on Amazon for same-day shipping.

When I received the package, I wanted my daughter (Diya) to give it herself to Liam. Her initial response is, "No, I want to keep the new one. I'll give him my old one." I said, "No. That's not the right thing to do. You have to give away the new one. That's how you give." She agreed. Then we went to the house and we rang the bell. Liam's family was blown away seeing Diya holding the gift for Liam. And Diya was so happy to see Liam receive that new toy and his father Frank was like immediately giving me a hug saying, "You didn't have to do this. I just asked you for a link." Having been in this community, I know better than that.

Before Service Space, I would have hesitated to do this even if I felt like it, thinking it would be awkward as we didn't know Frank's family that well. But this time, I knew there is nothing awkward in spreading love and joy. 

That's not the best part, though. 

I come back home and my daughter says, "Oh I want to give more." She says, "Can I give this toy? This is new, right?" I said, "No. No dear, you don't have to give everything." From that point forward, she's constantly in this giving mode --maybe because she saw some joy in this giving. She keeps coming back over, "When are we going to buy something new? I want to give it away."

That really made me connect to how the sowing of seeds is rippling out. I have been in a transactional mode for most of my life, but ServiceSpace seeds in me are now reaching my daughter's heart too.

Thank you.