Mr. Tima was a man of modest means. He had studied till the
8th standard and then joined his father in his small business-of
household repairs. He lived with his wife and two children in a
one-bedroom house on the edge of a slum.
It wasn’t a very big
sum of money that Rosha needed to pay Mr. Tima, but it wasn’t small either. As a matter of principle Rosha wanted to settle the accounts soon. He had learnt from his spiritual master that one should pay off one’s dues as quickly as possible.
By A Staff Writer
There are some people you take to the very moment you meet them. You know what I mean, I’m sure! You instinctively feel a deep spiritual connection with them, and somehow, without even exchanging a word you know you can completely trust them. You know that they are kind, good people, who would never harm you.
Mr. Tima was one such person. He was a man of modest means. He studied till the 8th standard and then joined his father in his small business”of household repairs. He lived with his wife and two children in a one-bedroom house on the edge of a slum. It was a dark, diminutive place, but still, he loved it, because it was adjacent to a church, where he would spend half an hour every morning before setting out to work and half an hour in the evening before getting back home.
Rosha’s friend Namo had put him in touch with Mr. Tima when Rosha needed some repairs done in his house. ‘His work is excellent. He’s reasonable. He won’t cheat you. And, moreover, he is a very kind man,’ Namo had said to him.
Rosha found Mr. Tima to be just as Namo had described him.
The day Mr. Tima finished the work he had taken on in Rosha’s house he received a call informing him that a relative of his in a distant town had fallen very sick. The same evening, Mr. Tima rushed to be with him, and so Rosha was unable to pay him for his work.
Settle the Accounts
Over the next month or so Rosha tried contacting Mr. Tima. He wanted to give him the money he owed him as soon as he could. But every time he called him he found that Mr. Tima’s phone was switched off.
It wasn’t a very big sum of money that Rosha needed to pay Mr. Tima, but it wasn’t small either. As a matter of principle Rosha wanted to settle the accounts soon. He had learnt from his spiritual master that one should
pay off one’s dues as quickly as possible.
Several weeks later, Rosha managed to get through to Mr. Tima on the phone. “I owe you some money, brother, for the work you did for me,” he said to him.
“Oh, there’s no hurry at all,” Mr. Tima replied. “Maybe you can pay me when we next meet.”
“Brother, I’ve never seen a businessman like you!” Rosha exclaimed. “Other people chase their customers and perhaps rightly so for outstanding payments. But you even if someone insists that you accept the money they owe you, you don’t seem eager to oblige!”
Mr. Tima giggled.
Rosha requested Mr. Tima to send him his bank details so that he could transfer the money to his account that same day.
“Oh, well”¦”, Mr. Tima mumbled in reply.
Rosha could make out that Mr. Tima didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic about the suggestion.
“I’ll tell you what!”, Mr. Tima said energetically after a pause. “Instead of sending me the money, what about giving it to a good cause? Maybe a needy person, or some charity?”
“My goodness! That’s such a lovely idea!” Rosha responded.
A Kind Deed Now, it so happened that that very evening Rosha discovered that Mr. Sol, who worked as a cleaner in the apartments where he lived, had taken ill. He was rushed to a hospital, where he stayed for the night. Two days later, when Rosha met Mr. Sol, he gave him the money that he had owed Mr. Tima. Hopefully, it would cover the cost of his treatment.
Mr. Sol was very grateful to Rosha for this kind deed. But Rosha explained to him that it had been Mr. Tima’s idea, not his. He then told him the entire story.
Mr. Sol was very touched by Mr. Tima’s thoughtfulness. He said a short prayer and then said to Rosha, “Please thank that kind man and tell him that I prayed to God to bless him and his family abundantly.”
Later in the day, Rosha called Mr. Tima and informed him that he had given the money that he had owed him to Mr. Sol, explaining how it helped him recover most of the money he had spent on his treatment. He also mentioned that Mr. Sol had prayed to God to bless Mr. Tima and his family.
Mr. Tima sounded very pleased. He thanked Rosha profusely for enabling him to help a man in need. But Rosha insisted that it was Mr. Tima, not he, who deserved to be thanked.
“Well, it’s the Lord who needs to be thanked, for giving both of us an opportunity to do a good deed,” Mr. Tima concluded. And to that Rosha heartily agreed!
(This story is inspired by a true incident!)
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