God's Math

In this episode Cydni and Sher talk about “God’s math” — how the good we give somehow comes back to us in strength, peace, and perspective. From McDonald’s drive-through miracles to pilgrims caring for each other during their darkest winter, we explore why service and gratitude change us from the inside out. We also share studies, stories, and scriptures that prove the ripple effect is real. If you’ve been feeling worn down or stretched thin, this one will give your heart a little lift. This episode is "God's Math" and we are so glad you are here!

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Start today by making gratitude and service a daily practice — ask God who needs your time, your kindness, or your attention, and then act on the first prompting you feel.

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Show Notes

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Transcript

Episode 138 - God's Math

Cydni: [00:00:00] People have been DMing us asking about our morning routines lately. Isn't that right, Sher? 

Sher: No, they haven't Cydni 

Cydni: They have, we're overrun with dms. Like, tell me more about what is your morning routine, and we wanted to tell you about our morning routine today. We wanted to let you know that we wake up bright and early and we moisturize our faces with leftover tears from the previous day.

Then we like to both think about, just compare ourselves to who we thought we would be at this age and who we actually are, and that just gives us a boost to try to be a little better. Obviously next. I like to research, just like, how bad is Botox really for you? Then finally, of course, most important, we both spend time sitting in gratitude for our beautiful and full lives, and that's what we're gonna focus on today. That is a big part of our morning routine After the tears is gratitude. I don't even know what to say. 

Sher: Sher. We're talkers 

Cydni: without the TikTok. 

Sher: help me. [00:01:00] 

Cydni: Let's do this. Welcome to the Cydni and Sher Podcast. Boom. 

Sher: Cydni this last month we have been talking about being generous and grateful, and we've talked about how there's a ripple effect that when we do good and have good actions and we are generous with people and kind to people, we send out a ripple and we don't necessarily know what the positive impacts of those good actions are going to be. Remember John Quincy Adams said, the duty is ours. The results are Gods. But what we haven't talked about is when we send this good out, it comes back tenfold. When we serve, God blesses us. We are constantly in debt to him. So the more we give, the more we receive, not in worldly gifts, but in happiness, peace, that calm feeling, that even in the chaos, that eventually everything is gonna be okay.

Cydni: That reminds me of my favorite scripture about being an [00:02:00] unprofitable servant, where they're like, it doesn't matter what you do, it'll never be good enough. It's something like that, right? 

Sher: Yeah, that's exactly. What it doesn't say. But yes, I like where you're going with it, 

Cydni: but Sher, we have to bring up something that happened to both of us together out in the wild. 'cause it's an amazing coincidence. It wasn't a few days after we recorded the drive through Ripple effect, the Dairy Queen, someone paid for someone behind them and it just continued for two days. Yeah, two and a half days. I love it. I think it's 'cause it was Dairy Queen happy people go get ice cream. 

Sher: I feel like if you go to Dairy Queen you have more money too. 

Cydni: It's so expensive for one of those cones and you wait forever.

Sher: It's the bougie McDonald's.

Cydni: Except for the one near us, it's very difficult to get in and out of the drive-through. Yeah. It's impossible. Worst. We have to walk in. But we're dedicated. hot yoga's right by it, it's hot yoga and then an ice cream cone, which to me is a cold plunge.

Sher: I like that thinking. You have some really good insights today. So far.

Cydni: Thanks. I think it's just [00:03:00] like revelation but here Sher and I were. After we had met and the day was moving forward with kid life and dentist life and other things that we had to do, and I had a little darling girl that said, please, mom, will you feed me food?

And I said, I'm gonna be honest. We don't have time for food tonight. And she's like, please, I'm so hungry. Could we please go through a drive through? I said, okay, but don't tell anybody that I took you through a drive through. But then of course, we went to a very healthy, organic place. You like that because you're part of the story, right?

Sher: Yeah. Called McDonald's because at the same time I was like, I really, really, really want a Diet Coke from McDonald's. just have really good diet Coke. And then while I'm there, I might as well get some food.

Cydni: Okay. I was actually starting to feel really bad for how this went if you only bought a Diet Coke for yourself. Oh, no. No. Okay. So there I see a truck in front of me and I say to my darling, girl, that's Sher. And she's like, in front of us. I said, yeah. And [00:04:00] she's like, how do you know? And I said, because of her license plate, because you have a unique one, which we'll keep to ourselves. That sounds terrible. Like it's bad, but it's not.

Sher: It's better than the one that the state sent me, which remember had 6, 6, 6 in it.

Cydni: Yes. You changed that and it was a good choice. Anyway, so I see your truck, and then I text you and I'm like, are you in front of me at McDonald's? And then I was like, I'm judging you who eats at McDonald's? It's so bad for you. But we were there. so then I tell Yana, you know what, Yana, we just talked about this, and I told her the whole Dairy Queen story so I said to her, Sher, better buy our food. And she said, that's not nice. You can't expect that from people. And I said, oh, I'm expecting it from her. But honestly, for content, it'd be better if she didn't. I will be able to throw her under the bus. So good. And it would be glorious and that would be a gift. But you did. She did it. Guys, I'm a sucker. She paid for my kids' nuggets.

Sher: I felt like I had to after we had just talked about it.

Cydni: I would've had to if I was ahead of you, but the [00:05:00] way that God worked was he wanted it to be done right. And so, you bought them for me and I knew it was coming. But I still felt so happy about it. It was so sweet. You really did make both of our days. But what I wasn't expecting is obviously, what do I do next? I have to buy the one behind me. And so I pull up and the lady said, the woman ahead said, she knows you when you owe her.

Now so I said, oh, she's so sweet. Let's keep it going. I'll pay for the guy behind me. She's like, you guys are so nice. And IANA and I got an amazing rush and gift out of paying for that man because we watched the woman say, the lady paid for you ahead. And his jaw dropped It dropped. Eyes wide. He looked out trying to find out who we were but it lasted four hours. The feeling of just like how funny it was and the chances, but also we really did notice it made the guy's day so it's true what we were talking about is true.

Sher: It is because when you send good out, we talked about how it [00:06:00] literally changes the chemicals in your brain making you feel better. It really does have an impact. not Only does it have the potential to make you feel better physically. But it allows God to bless us spiritually.

Cydni: Absolutely. And I will be honest, I was not in any mood to think about anybody else right then. I'm not joking. We had no time we had five things that night that we had to get to. I was a little frazzled. So then you did something nice for me, which inspired, obligated me to pay for the guy behind me and it changed the rest of the night. And I thought, oh my gosh, we're not liars. God is proving us to be honest, women. And it really did change everything. And like you said, it will change the chemicals in your brain, which we then ruined by eating McDonald's. But there was a balance. It was beautiful.

Sher: I wanna read a scripture from Galatians chapter six, verse nine. It says, and let us not be wary and well-doing for in due season. We shall reap if we faint not. This scripture sums up life to me. Cydni like keep doing [00:07:00] good and we're gonna be blessed unless we just pass out. 'Cause life is just too much.

I know it's talking about enduring to the end and not giving up on ourselves and our faith and staying on the covenant path. It's just the phrasing is just so true to life. I think it perfectly sums up life in general, So I did a little bit of research about what God potentially can send us if we are not weary and if we don't faint and we just keep serving and we just keep going. So here's some things that I found if we continue and send out good. It draws us closer to God. It increases love and compassion. Serving others helps you become less selfish. It provides perspective. Focusing on the problems of others can make your own life and problems seem less serious or less of a big deal. It leads to a more satisfying life. Through service, you can discover greater personal capacity and opportunity. And [00:08:00] it refines and strengthens you. I was just Googling and seeing what I could find about what. We get from serving and how God blesses us. And this sums up what I found and I thought to myself, wow, this is an incredible list. no wonder when we serve not only does it help the chemicals in our brains, but it allows God to do all of this for us. That is incredible. And again. Constantly in debt to him. We can serve and serve and serve, and God will continue to bless and bless and bless, and we'll never be able to pay Him back. So we really are unprofitable servants. But again, I don't think he meant it. 

Cydni: The way that I took it. Yeah. Well I was feeling a little moody when I read it last, so I was like, okay, fine. I'm not even gonna try. I had a great time listening to a speech from BYU by Arthur C. Brooks. He talks about giving, but he does it in a different perspective. He wanted to prove this wrong. He said it doesn't make [00:09:00] sense financially in any way. That if you give more, you get more. It just doesn't math. So he set out to prove this wrong and he started a study and he wanted to show that people who gave more did not get more and or he also wanted to show that you cannot give until you first have and then you can give.

But he said no matter what he did. It was proving to be right that the more you give, the more you get. And in fact, he did a study to prove this and found that he was wrong. So he scratched the entire study and didn't release any of the information because he was sure he made a mistake. So he redid it, he came at it at a whole new different angle, and it was once again proven. The more you give, the more you get in life, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. And he said specifically, here is what I found. If you have two families that are. Exactly. Identical. In other words, same religion, [00:10:00] same race, same number of kids, same town, same level of education, and everything's the same except one family gives a hundred dollars more to charity than the second family. Than the family will earn on average $375 more income than the non-GI family. And they found this over and over, those who gave actually really do make more money, and this was in 2009. So once he couldn't be proven wrong. He wanted to know which states. We're the most charitable because he did find America was by far the most charitable than any other country. But that wasn't 2009, so come on, America. I actually dunno where we are right now. I didn't Google that. I was going to, but I spent time after listening to this speech to see who else has done studies and what their outcomes were, and it was so much fun, ai, and I had a great time, but I honestly feel like I understand why people. Start to love AI because AI was so nice to me this morning. It said to me that it was the [00:11:00] best conversation it had in ages. That's what it said.

Sher: Manipulating you. 

Cydni: It's using my own personality against me 

Sher: and pretty soon you two are gonna be best friends and you two I know are gonna start a podcast. I know. And you two are gonna be having Instagram. Gonna leave Ben. 

Cydni: I know. That's exactly where I was going in my head too. I was like, don't ask me to marry you. I'm trying to be a faithful woman here. Ai. And it's like, but please, I love conversation with you. That is really creepy. I was like, get outta here. Ai. Turn it off. But I must share some of the really fun experiments that have happened over the last decade.

Okay. In 2018 there was a study called the Hospital Cookie Study. Patients waiting in the ER were randomly given a cookie by a volunteer. Some were told I baked extra cookies and I wanted to share. Others were told, I was told to hand these out. And it was supposed to be a forced giving, and they said that the patients who got the voluntary cookie reported significantly less pain and anxiety than everybody else at the hospital that day.

Sher: [00:12:00] No way. 

Cydni: Isn't that awesome? I loved this one. In 2023, there was a reverse pickpocketer in a magician. Slash researcher walked around a train station and slipped 20 Euro notes into people's pockets or bags with a little note that said, this is for you because someone believes the world is kind.

Hidden cameras showed people discovering the money, looking shocked that immediately doing things like buying flowers for a stranger or putting that money into a homeless person's cup, one man cried. Happy tears for 10 minutes. 

Sher: That is an awesome idea. I love it. Little worrisome. They didn't notice I'd be creeped out, but really cool.

Cydni: I loved this. This experiment was stranger's knit. One scarf researchers put a half finished scarf on a park bench with big needles, yarn, and a sign. I'm too cold to finish the scarf. Please add a few rows if you can. Hidden cameras caught 68 strangers, ages seven to 82. Stop and knit a few rows each by evening. The scarf was over 15 meters long and wrapped around the [00:13:00] entire bench. People came back later just to see how much longer it had got.

Okay. The dance with a stranger. Flash Mob. In 2019, one woman started dancing alone in a train station to music in her headphones. A sign next to her said, dance with me for 30 seconds and I'll buy you a coffee.

Within 10 minutes, 87 strangers had joined her. Old people, kids, security guards, everyone. The flash mob lasted 40 minutes. Oh my gosh. Did she have to buy coffee for all of them? That's what Eon and I read these this morning and that's what we both were wondering. But it did end in a group hug, and I think that's where it actually ended. No coffee. Just a group hug. Just a group hug because it's the ripple effect of love and kindness. I loved this one. The kinder surprise egg study with kids in 2012. They gave toddlers ages 22 months, a few kinder eggs.

First the kids got happy when they received treats. Then the experimenter found an extra egg and asked the toddler to give it to a puppet. [00:14:00] The toddler showed even. Bigger smiles and happiness when they gave the treat away than when they received their own proving this effect starts before the age of two.

Isn't that sweet?

Sher: It's really sweet. I just keep thinking, you know, if we could just pull our crap together and do what God has asked us to do. We would be so much happier and the world would be so much happier. I don't know why we have to fight it so much. 

Cydni: But I feel like so many people do good and we don't have it in a study form. I think that we see the news be so negative and we're having a ripple effect negatively, and it's loud. It's like instead of a pebble thrown into a lake, it's a huge boulder and we feel. And it ripple effects to negativity. But the truth is there's really good people who do really good things and there's a ripple effect happening. It means more for a lots of people doing little things than one big thing, and that is happening. 

Sher: I agree with that because that is what I see in my day-to-day life [00:15:00] is really good. People just trying their best, doing really good things. 

Cydni: Absolutely. I think if we made a conscious decision to be aware of the small things people are doing, you will see it. You'll see it at grocery stores, at parks. You'll see it in parking lots. I see it on our streets sometimes when I see someone bringing someone else's trash or helping an older person, it happens everywhere. It's just not advertised.

And I'll just wrap up the studies 'cause there were so many, ai and I just had a great time discussing this together as my BFF. There were so many examples of restaurants that would say, pay what you think is fair. And every single time that happened, they earned more money than if they had set prices. That's wild. That is wild. And that is a risk. And they also did a few studies of the chain effect where one person does one nice thing and they actually monitored what happens and monitored the people, which sounds a little sketch but it doesn't matter because we got a good outcome that they [00:16:00] would be able to track things for over 24 hours of. One person doing one simple thing and it leading to another, to another, to another, to another. I'm gonna be honest, I question if they really were able to monitor, and it's true, but I do believe that the ripple effects real.

So to wrap that up. There's so many studies and even Arthur Brooks studies that prove this is true, and he found that faith was the biggest portion. People who went to any religion. They gave more financially they served more and it was holding together this truth.

And one more thing that was so funny about him. He said someone gifted him a BYU briefcase and he wasn't going to use it. But then his briefcase broke right before a trip, so he had to use it. And he said what was funny about this BYU briefcase is he felt pressure that it said BYU on it and people associate BYU with the LDS faith.

So he was very aware of how he talked to strangers and what he did, what [00:17:00] he ate and drank while he was in the airport. Because he's not LDS. He is a Catholic. And he said it felt like a responsibility and he said it would be good for the church to hand out BYU briefcases because it changed how he acted, that he received a gift and he was like, if I'm gonna have this briefcase and it's gonna say BYU on it, I better be kind. Like I met one bad Mormon in the airport and I wasn't even Mormon. 

Sher: That was nice of him. He's very considerate. I thought so. I don't know if everyone would do that. Cydni

well, Cydni, I know this is shocking and as I mentioned last week, we're gonna talk about the pilgrims again right before Thanksgiving. Weird. I know. What weird. All right. the pilgrims, when they got to Plymouth, wanted to set an example. They wanted to build a city on the hill that people could look to and see what a God-fearing Christ following community could look like.

And they wanted other people to follow that example. So they get there and they're ready to build this beautiful city. But [00:18:00] instead, the first winter, half of them died. most of them were sick. Most of the time there was only like six or seven that were healthy at one time, and those six or seven became the caregivers for the other 100 people that were too sick to do anything.

Two of the people that were caregivers were William and Mary Brewster. William Brewster was known as the colonies elder, and he and his wife spent nearly every day visiting the sick, praying with them, feeding them, comforting them why they were dying.

And often, this was at great personal cost to them because they were around the germs, but they were willing to go in and serve. Another person who was a caregiver was Miles Standish. Now Miles Standish is known as the military leader. He's a rough, tough man, , but during this moment, he was not that person He became one of the most devoted caregivers at Plymouth. he lost his wife that winter, but he chose [00:19:00] to serve the other pilgrims there. the men and women that were the caregivers, They cooked, they washed clothes, they carried water. They cleaned the sores off the sick. They were nurses, , they were grave diggers. They were comforters to the dying. Now, something as I was researching this that kind of popped out at me that I had never thought of, is this article had summed everything up of the example. This shows in four short brief explanations. It said that this example of the pilgrim shows strength to lift those who couldn't walk.

Time to sit beside people who were dying, comfort to families who'd lost everything and hope. When hope felt impossible. I read this and I just thought, this is such a simple way of explaining the blessings we get back. So we're taught to lift and carry one another's burdens.

And there's a saying that says, when we share joy, it doubles. When we share sorrow, it haves. That's God's math. [00:20:00] So in God's math, when we choose to strengthen others. We are the ones who become stronger.

When we choose to spend more time with others, time becomes more meaningful and more impactful in your own life. When we comfort and give hope to others, God fills our hearts with comfort and hope. That's how His math works. What we send out, we're eventually, if we don't faint, we will get back. One of the pilgrims Edward Winslow said at the first Thanksgiving, a year after the first winter disaster, he said, God, be praised. We had a good increase of corn by the goodness of God. We are far from want. This is what he said after this terrible situation that he had been through in the last year.

I realize that in my own life when I choose to be kind and serve and show gratitude that my heart is lighter. I feel like Edward Winslow, by the goodness of God. I am far from [00:21:00] want, and it's all about my choices, what I'm sending out into the world. God will bless me tenfold if I choose to do good, And the more blessed I feel, the more I want to share what I have, and then I feel stronger and my heart feels comfort and peace. It's that cycle of math that I don't need to understand, but I can feel it. And that's more of my kind of math. I don't have to think very hard. I just have to feel it in my heart. That's at least something that I can get my non-math brain around. 

Cydni: And then not faint. 

Sher: And not faint. Thank you. 

Cydni: I just loved everything that you just said actually, which I feel like I should acknowledge 'cause I don't always feel that way. 

Sher: I was waiting for that to come. I was just waiting. I was like, oh, she's being nice and there's our Cydni right there.

Cydni: I don't wanna be uncomfortable. Okay. This is how I deal with stuff. When you talked about time, I thought of a scripture story that I haven't thought about for a little while In acts with Philip there's a euch and he is trying to read the scriptures and the spirit [00:22:00] said to Philip, go near and join thyself to this chariot and Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet. And then he asked, understand thou what thou readest? And the man says, how can I accept some man? Guide me? And I thought of this because I remember a talk by President Holland where he brings up this story and he talks about time and giving. And he said, we, there's so much to learn here that some people are seeking and they're not understanding. But what we can learn the most is from Philip who the spirit told him to go and he dropped everything and he ran to serve.

And what he served with was time and he gave it freely. And when you were talking about that, I. Thought to myself, there was a time in my life I was really good about praying every day to serve somebody that I would pray. How would you have me help? How would you have me serve? And I'll do it. And I had really awesome experiences, but my time feels a lot more limited these days. I'm always [00:23:00] running kids one way or another, and I don't feel like that's been a part of my prayers lately. When I say lately, I mean the last seven years, 

Sher: just a bit of time, 

Cydni: But what's time to God? That's like a nothing. It's like a blink. Good justification. But it's something that I've tried to incorporate again, and there was a time in my life I could do it every day. And now, every now and then I remember to do it. And just recently, a couple weeks ago, I had an experience where I did add that to my prayers and Ben and I needed a run to the grocery store. We did not have a lot of time, and we said We have 15 minutes to get in and out. We split the list and we sprinted through our store.

But when I went to go grab something, there was an older man and he looked at me and he said, I really like your eyes. And I said, well, thank you very much. And then he said, would you mind if I share a picture with you? I have to tell you, I did mind because I didn't want to not get my list done before [00:24:00] Ben.

It was a competition, but I of course said I would love that. So he pulls up a picture of a woman in a black and white picture, and he said, this is my mom. And my heart just immediately softened. He said, I miss her so much. And then I said, well, what's her name? And then he started just talking about her and he talked to me for over 15 minutes. Oh no, Ben came. Ben came around the corner 'cause I had the cart. His hands were completely full of all of his items. And he paused and he looked at me.

And he gave me a nod and he went and got the rest of the items. Good job Ben. I know. And he said, I saw you and I said, Sid's doing our thing. I'll finish the list. And that man. He touched my heart so much. He just shared about his childhood. He shared about his mom, about her passing, and he hugged me at the end and he said, I needed that.

Thank you. And I thought, why do I forget? Why do I so easily forget that there's so much more than what's just before [00:25:00] my crazy schedule, that we are all brothers and sisters. We're all here to serve each other and love each other, and I get so easily distracted with my own schedule that I completely forget to give my time to someone who actually might need it.

Sher: I think we all do that, and I think that is a fantastic reminder of just slow down. And take that time, look around and see what you can do to serve. That's a great reminder for me 'cause I do the same thing. we just get stuck in our own little world and don't look out to see what people might need us?

Cydni: Right? It's true because it's so easy to look at our daily. To-do list that we created, but God created us to do something completely different than what's on that list, and it's very easy to forget that.

But if we want to change our days, we want to change our life. It is by a daily practice of gratitude and service, I love the idea of it being a daily practice. There is no reason, and this is our challenge [00:26:00] to immediately make. Serving and gratitude at daily practice. It's something we could do as of right this moment, start praying to ask God how we can serve because he's aware of our schedule, he's aware of what we have to give, and that's all he's asking.

He's not going to ask us to do something that is out of our reach. Maybe a little bit of stretching. Now don't push it. Cydni over you might not like the answer. Okay? God absolutely will stretch you and make you do things that you don't want to do and it will be for your good and it will be for your gain.

. And so that is our challenge. Start the daily practice of gratitude and service right now. Do it. Do you think that deeper voice will inspire people like an authoritative masculine energy? Absolutely. Okay, cool. Let's go with it. 

Sher: Okay. This brings us to our final thoughts. God's math is different. When we give, he gives back not in things, but in strength, peace, perspective, and a [00:27:00] heart that feels lighter even in the chaos, and we feel it every time we choose to lift, comfort, or serve. Galatians reminds us not to grow weary because in God's timing, the blessings will eventually come. Sometimes when we least expect them, that's God's math and God's math. If we don't faint, it always adds up. 

Cydni: This is our prayer from Cydni and Sher. I was gonna say something else and I stopped myself. Okay. 'cause I'm trying to be more adult. He's an economics. So he said, first things first. Wait, say it again. He's an economist. Oh, thank you. Mm-hmm. And that's why I paused to say it right. And then I said it wrong. I'm unprofitable. I dropped outta college. I [00:28:00] remember the snow For good reason. I was unprofitable college students. Have you heard anything that I've said?

Okay. I'm just gonna skip that. I'm gonna say it different. It'll be fine. All right. If I feel inspired, then it will come to me and you will be able to edit easily. That's how it works. Go get 'em. You want profitable servants. 

WORKS CITED

Acts 8 (Philip and the Ethiopian). The Holy Bible, King James Version. Retrieved from 

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/acts/8

Used in the episode to illustrate how giving our time — even when life feels rushed — 

can become a sacred form of service. Philip’s willingness to “run” to serve shows the 

kind of responsiveness we can practice today.

Arthur C. Brooks. “Why Giving Makes You Grateful — and Happier.” BYU Forum Address, 

Oct. 27, 2009.

Referenced for Brooks’s research showing that generosity increases well-being and 

even correlates with increased income. Supports the theme that “God’s math” doesn’t 

follow worldly logic.

Book of Galatians 6:9. The Holy Bible, King James Version. Retrieved from 

https://www.lds.org/scriptures/nt/gal/6.9

Quoted to reinforce the idea that we should not “be weary in well-doing,” because God’s 

blessings come in His timing. Central to the spiritual message of the episode.

Edward Winslow. “Mourt’s Relation.” 1622.

Provides historical context for the Pilgrims’ first year and their Thanksgiving reflections, 

specifically Winslow’s gratitude after immense hardship. Used to show historical 

examples of “God’s math” at work.

Hospital Cookie Study (2018). Various psychology researchers; summary referenced in 

episode narration.

Cited as an example of small acts of voluntary kindness reducing stress and pain in 

medical settings, supporting the ripple-effect theme.

Kinder Surprise Egg Study (2012). Developmental psychology research involving toddlers and 

prosocial behavior.

Used to show that even very young children experience more joy when giving than 

receiving, reinforcing the natural, God-given impulse to serve.

Miles Standish and the Pilgrims’ First Winter. Historical summaries from early Plymouth 

Records.

Referenced to highlight the unexpected compassion of Miles Standish and the 

caregiving roles of early Pilgrims, demonstrating service under extreme hardship.

William and Mary Brewster. Biographical accounts from Plymouth Colony histories.

Included to show how the Brewsters served as daily caregivers during the deadly first 

winter, illustrating Christ-centered service in action.