When freezing temperatures shut down the state of Texas two weeks ago, my friend Lisa discovered that when you offer beauty and random acts of kindness in hard times, people give back.

Because Lisa has a full-time job, she was able to move to a hotel when the power went out in her Dallas home. A couple of days later, she learned that another couple staying at the hotel needed to get to the airport and hadn’t been able to find a taxi. Lisa offered to drive them. When they arrived at the airport, the couple insisted on giving her $20 to pay for the gas. Next Lisa drove to the supermarket to pick up a few things to take back to her hotel room. Standing in the check-out line, she impetuously gave the $20 gift to the family ahead of her. They then insisted on buying her a cup of coffee and a doughnut in the store’s coffee shop.

This is “paying it forward” exemplified!

When hard times hit and your whole environment is a wounded place, it may be premature to think right away about making gifts of beauty for the place itself. As the immediate aftershocks of the crisis settle, we can begin to think about RadJoy’s signature practice of creating beauty for neighborhoods, trees, and lands. In the beginning, it’s often other living beings who most need our acts of beauty.