Extra Effort

"And whomever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two." Matt 5:41

Southwest Airlines knows the value of giving a customer their very best effort. A women, traveling on business during the Christmas season several years ago, left her purse on a Southwest plane.

This left her with no cash, no credit cards, and no form of identification. She filled out a report on the lost purse and kicked herself for being so careless. The place she was on, eventually stopped at Phoenix and her purse was found by the cleaning crew. Her purse arrived the next morning on a flight and she was thrilled to have not lost her valuables.

When she opened up the billfold, she noticed the $40 in cash was gone. She wrote it off as the price for forgetting her purse and rummaged through it to make sure nothing else was missing. To her surprise, she found a $41 check from Southwest Airlines with a memo that read, "to replace cash found in lost purse."

Rather than risk losing the cash along the way, authorities made sure the cash was replaced with a check for $1 more than what was found.

It was their extra effort during the busy Christmas season that secured a customer for life. As we move through the normal experiences of life, even when things are busy, it's important to remember that normal effort is expected, and extra effort is appreciated.

The Bible calls it the second mile and it's a great route to travel, and it's not that hard. Look today for someone you can bless - put forth the extra effort - and see if God doesn't bless you in return.