My sons bagged groceries at the local grocery store during high school.  The experience taught them to work with a variety of people in all different phases of life.

As such, they’d come home and tell us their stories.  Once there was a guy that had 2 carts full of pop, or the lady that spent $985 on meat.  Crazy things.

But their biggest observation was on the old people.  Some came through the line and always had a smile on their face whether they were pinching pennies or driving Cadillacs.  They were genuinely happy.  Others came through the line, and seemed to be wearing a constant scowl.  For those people, the boys could never seem to get the groceries bagged correctly, and the clerk never seemed fast enough.

They became staunch believers that there were only two types of old people:  grumpy or happy.

I suppose that shouldn’t be surprising.  Whatever kind of life you’ve cultivated over a 60 or 70-year period will always manifest itself.  You can’t plant rocks and expect to have flowers.  If you sow gratitude, you are more likely to see rainbows where others see clouds.

Sow carefully.  The law of the harvest is always immutable:  whatever you sow, you will always reap in kind. 

Bill High

Bill is CEO & Founder of Vyne Legacy. He works with families to equip them with tools to build multigenerational legacies, and he teaches givers and financial advisers on transformational biblical generosity. He is the co-author with David Green of Giving It All Away and Getting It All Back Again: The Way of Living Generously.

Published March 31, 2016

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