Purity of Heart

    Sometimes, while visiting a chapel near home, I read prayer requests left by other people. These requests appear in a notebook.
    A visit last summer offered a surprise. Two dollars lay beside the notebook. A message from the donor read, A little $ for anyone in need.
    Reading that note brightened my mood. (I didn't take the cash).
    The donor didn’t leave his name. Perhaps he was familiar with an exhortation in the New Testament. It reads: Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.
   The media often reports when someone—often a famous person—donates money. These reports dismay me. I wonder if those donors are motivated by self aggrandizement rather than compassion.
   Anonymous donors are inspirational because they reveal purity of heart.