This Lent, I’ve been trying to do one nice thing a day. Early in the Easter season, as I was planning out how to do that, one funny idea kept popping into my head: “Give people Tim Tams.”
You might’ve heard of Tim Tam biscuits. They’re these Australian cream-filled cookies that you can dip in hot tea or coffee, kind of like Australia’s version of dunking Oreos in milk. I’d never heard of Tim Tams until last year. That’s when Mysterious Ways managing editor, Adam Hunter, returned from his vacation to Australia with a package of Tim Tams. He left them in the office kitchen. By the time I got there, only one cookie was left. I had it with tea and I’ve been obsessed with Tim Tams ever since.
Luckily, Tim Tams are sold in the U.S. now. So when the idea to give out Tim Tams popped into my head, I listened. After all, this wasn’t the first time God had spoken to me through food or nudged me to spread the love through cookies.
I bought three packages of Tim Tams and let my intuition tell me who to give them to. I left the first package on one of my co-worker’s desks. I mailed the second package to one of my best friends. And I shipped the third package to Roberta Messner, a longtime contributor to Guideposts and Mysterious Ways magazines. Of course, I instructed all three Tim Tam recipients to eat their cookies with tea (seriously, you have to try it!).
When Roberta received the Tim Tams, she called and left me a voicemail at work. “Those Tim Tams…” she said, “I don’t know how I lived without those!” Roberta liked them so much that she went out, bought some more and gave them to three different people. I was amazed. I never told Roberta that I’d given Tim Tams to three people. She’d continued the chain of Tim Tam cookie sharing without even knowing it.
And to think it all began with Adam’s post-vacation treat for the office over a year ago. It just goes to show you the wonder that one random act of kindness can set off.
Has anything like that ever happened to you? Share your story below!
