I found this devotion I had written in 2004 and thought it was perfect for today. With a few tweaks, I present it to you. Enjoy.

Groceries filled the refrigerator and pantry, clean clothes lined the drawers and closets, and the mileage on my car increased greatly after the errands I’d run that day. I felt exhausted, yet the house remained cluttered with remnants of the weekend. Time to start cleaning. Ugh! I knew the kids’ rooms were messy, so I headed upstairs just to close their doors.

Wait a minute! What happened here? Not only were their beds made and clothes picked up, but things were actually in order – not in just one room, but all three! I knew two of my kids were downstairs. Rebecca, however, was happily coloring at her desk.

“Umm, Rebecca,” I started, “Did you by any chance see the cleaning fairy come along and straighten some rooms up here?” I saw a little grin come over her face. She quietly nodded.

“Was the fairy’s name Rebecca?” I asked. Her grin swelled into a full smile and her eyes grew bashful as she continued coloring. I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed her tightly next to me. I wanted to sing from the mountain tops. I felt like doubling her allowance for the week, no, the month, perhaps the year! I wanted to lavish her with special gifts to thank her for her kind deed.

I would have been proud of her for the same act if she had run down the stairs and told me she had cleaned all the bedrooms. But there she was a little 9-year-old child, having cleaned her sister and brother’s room in secret without telling a soul. How I wanted to reward her even more for her beautiful act of kindness done in private.

Then I realized how much more the Father wants to reward each of us for our kind acts done in secret. Nothing is secret from Him. He sees it all. I can only imagine the joy that fills His heart when he sees His children help one another, go out of our ways to bless a friend, or gently reach out to strangers in need.

This is truly a time that can make all the difference in the world to others, even in our quarantined states.

I read recently on Next Door about a quarantined woman whose neighbor dropped off a care package for her. I’ve heard of people sewing masks, so others have something to wear for protection. Another woman works at a retirement center in which the elderly residents are quarantined for their own safety and this woman asked for donations of word-finds, coloring books, anything to help these elderly people pass the time productively.

Just imagine, if every one of us helped others in some small way, what a difference we can make! Schools require volunteers to hand out lunches to those in need in their parking lots. With drive through only dining, we can pick up tabs for those behind us. If we know of quarantined people but can still make grocery runs, we can pick up much-needed items. We can send texts, mail cards, send emails. Oh, the possibilities are endless. But, by all means, stay inside, as much as possible. That in and of itself is a major help to thousands. This is the time to be creative and think outside the box, think beyond ourselves, and follow where the Lord leads. He knows exactly who could use our help today, even from the confines of our own homes and cars.

While I may have doubled Rebecca’s allowance that week or allowed an extra cookie for dessert, I can’t remember exactly, but the Lord promises to bless those abundantly who serve others in secret.

Have other suggestions and examples of good deeds? Post them below. I’d love to hear about them.

But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:3-4