In March 2007, Van and I had been training out West and were traveling back to Missouri. We were really, really hungry for an old-fashioned hamburger and had stopped several times along the way looking for one of those “greasy, hole-in-the-wall” kind of places, but we couldn’t seem to find one.   

We stopped at an old truck stop on the Missouri/Iowa line to buy a bag of M&M’s and a cup of coffee. Much to our surprise, when we walked into the truck stop, we were met with a most wonderful fragrance: the smell of “the old-fashioned hamburger” we had been looking for the past 200 miles. We were so excited! We knew we had found our dinner.  

It didn’t take Van long to find the grill. He watched an older lady preparing a hamburger for a man dressed in farmer’s overalls. As she wrapped his specially prepared burger in aluminum foil, she said, “That will be $3.49, Harold.”  Harold said, “Thank you, Dora,” as he paid with a roll of farmer’s cash. Van, standing on Harold’s heels, could barely keep from pushing Harold out of the way.  

Finally, Harold stepped aside, and Van, as only Van can do, leaned on the counter and said, “Dora, where have you been all my life?”  Dora looked at him rather sheepishly and said, “Can I help you?” We are guessing she had a White personality. On the inside, she was probably thinking, “Oh boy, another one of these.”  

Van ordered a special burger, just like Harold’s and asked her to cut it in half. It was huge! As he watched Dora work, he was impressed with the care and quality with which she prepared our burger. As she brought the burger to the counter and started to wrap it in foil, Van said, “Please…. wait, I promise I’ll pay you, but I can’t wait any longer. I have to taste this burger right now!”  Van’s response to his bite of burger: “Mmmmmmmmmmmm!” (He sounded a lot like Bill Murray in the movie, “What about Bob?”)

As he reached for his wallet to pay, he said, (while still chewing the burger) “That is the best hamburger I have ever tasted. I watched you make that burger. This place is lucky to have you. Making a hamburger like this is a lost art. Thank you so much for our burger. You have just made our day!”

We took our burger and sat down at a table to enjoy our find. After eating my half of the burger, I walked over to the little gift shop and began looking at the book section. While shopping, Dora said to me, “Ma’am, will you please tell the man out front thank you?”  I thought that was rather odd, but said, “Yes, of course.”  She politely said, “Thank you.”  I stopped my shopping and told Van, thinking he must have given her a tip or something. When I told him that the lady in the back had told me to tell him thank you, he asked, “What for?”  I said, “I don’t know; she just told me to tell you thank you.” 

Well, curiosity got the best of him, and he headed to the grill and called out to Dora…. “Dora, Dora, excuse me.”  It took her a few seconds to respond, as she had her back to him, briskly cleaning the grill, but she finally turned around. He said, “My wife told me that you said to tell me thank you. I don’t know if that was meant for me, but if it was, I’m curious, what are you thanking me for?”  

Dora slowly turned and pulled her apron off, hanging it gently on the hook by the door. She came all the way out to the front of the counter and sheepishly said, almost in a whisper, being careful not to make eye contact, “Well…. you see, sir, I come in here every day, and all I do is cook hamburgers. Most days, I feel like my life doesn’t count for much, but you made me feel special today. I just wanted to thank you for thanking me for your hamburger.”  

Stunned and with tears filling his eyes, Van paused, trying to gather himself. Finally, he spoke. “Dora, you don’t know me, but my wife and I teach people about their God-given personalities. We tell them about the gifts they have inside them through their personality. These gifts are given to us to give away, to make the world a better place. I am, by nature, an encourager, I almost always see the good in people, and I do love to make people smile. I didn’t realize just how important these gifts are.”  He paused again, trying to control his emotions, “Today, when you thanked me for making you feel special, you taught me to value and appreciate my ability to make people smile and to make people feel good about life.”  He thanked her for thanking him for thanking her and told her, “You have blessed me today.”

With a tear slipping down her cheek and her eyes wide with surprise, Dora said, “Wow, that’s funny.”  She paused and then gently continued, “I prayed today, on my way to work, that God could…. somehow…. use my life to be a blessing to someone.”  Van stepped back, gently shaking his head. He said, with a slight chuckle, “Well, you got that one answered!”  As Van and Dora stood there with tears running down their cheeks, Van, in his sweet way, said, “Can I have a hug?”  With a welcoming shrug, Dora said, “Well, sure.”  

What an extraordinary moment! Two strangers, hugging in the middle of a truck stop on the Missouri/Iowa line, two strangers who had made a difference in each other’s lives.  

There are three lessons to be learned from Dora and this story about valuing the gifts God has placed inside you:

1. Pray each morning that God will use you to be a blessing to someone in some way.  
2. Give your gifts, whatever they are, wherever you are, intentionally to lend a hand and to be an encourager. Give a smile or a kind word to a stranger.  
3. Stay alert and know that you can be a blessing. When you are a blessing, you make the world a better place.

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Van and Tammy Benson live in Mount Vernon, Missouri. They have 4 daughters, 4 sons-in-law and 11 grandchildren. They love the message of the Color Code more than ever! For more information, visit their websites www.MotiveMatters.com and www.ColorYourMarriage.com.