Chrisi Kemp had endured another bad morning . . .

Her five-year-old daughter, sick for several months, was continuing to cause her mom considerable concern. Unpaid medical bills had begun to pile up. Chrisi had resorted to working six-days-a-week, long shifts as a waitress, in order to make ends meet. That the washing machine had broken down just before she set off for her latest shift at the One Whirled Cafe in Wake Forest, North Carolina, threatened to push the troubled 37-year-old over the edge. The previous night, she’d admitted on Facebook that she felt she was ‘idling, going nowhere’ and in need of a spiritual boost. Things could not have felt more bleak.

Karma is a mysterious force and not for a second did Chrisi, who likes to describe herself as a ‘giving person’, imagine that, just for once, it might be her turn . . .

Yet having presented a customer with a bill for $14.01, she was rendered speechless to find it handed back to her complete with a tip for $1,000.

“I looked down and I was shocked,” she says. “I said, ‘You don’t have to do that’ and he said, ‘Do you need it? Then keep it’ and pushed the bill back to me. You hear about [things like this] on TV and read about it online, but you never think it’s going to happen. I didn’t know if I was going to cry . . . I’m still speechless about some parts of it. It’s just crazy, thinking that someone has that much generosity in their heart’.

Chrisi – being Chrisi – checked and checked again that the customer was sure he wanted to leave a tip that equated to 7,138% of the bill. She asked her boss if she could accept it and got him to speak to the customer. She waited for several days before cashing the check, just in case the customer changed his mind. She even telephoned him before going to the bank in order to give him one last chance to reconsider . . .

“He said he believes in karma and it was my turn,” she says. “I still can’t believe it and I’m just so thankful. I do what I can, but I did need the money.”

For settling the medical bills and repairing the washing machine, there’s no question that the money will prove VERY useful. But this isn’t about financial reward. This is about karma and this is about connection. This is about reaching out, helping another and making a difference. This is about kindness and this is about kinship. This is the spiritual boost Chrisi said she needed in that prophetic post on Facebook.

That Chrisi, who has paid 43% to the IRS, shared some of the monies remaining with two co-workers (it had been a slow shift at the One Whirled Cafe that night), says it all for us . . .

You see, one act of kindness so often leads to another. That’s the good thing about karma. What goes around comes around. It’s infectious like that.

Here at OM®, we LOVE this story, which has inspired us to reach out and help someone today. We hope that YOU might feel inspired to do the same. Your act doesn’t need to be financial. You could contribute a kind word, a helping hand or even just a smile, but that small thing could make an enormous difference to someone having a bad morning.

Connection has long been our thing here at OM®, where we’re big believers in karma and its power to unite people. Please stand with us. It could be YOUR turn next.

We are all connected.