THE POWER OF KINDNESS
"An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up." Proverbs 12:25
When was the last time someone went out of their way to show kindness to you?
Last week, I went to the Walmart service desk to exchange something. When I went to get the new item, I found another item too. I wanted to pay for it at the service desk. The total was $4.31; I gave the clerk $5.31. She closed her drawer before she took out the dollar bill for change. She called her supervisor to open the drawer; after a minute, she went to get her supervisor. I waited another couple minutes. Then I told her that it was just a dollar, and I had to leave to pick up my daughter at school. So just forget about it.
I was almost to my car, when the clerk came running up to me and handed me a buck. I was so surprised and said, You really didn’t need to do that, but thank you. I was amazed. Wow! She ran out of her way to show kindness to me. When was the last time someone went out of their way to show kindness to you?
"Love is kind." I Corinthians 13:4
The movie "Pay It Forward" is about a 5th grader named Trever McKinney. His Social Studies teacher, Mr. Simonet, gives an assignment: Imagine an idea that would change the world and a plan of action. Trever’s idea is to do something good and big and hard for 3 people, and tell them to do it for 3 other people; he calls it "Pay It Forward."
Trever gives his savings to a homeless man, lets him eat at their home and sleep in their garage. The homeless man, Jerry, repairs their truck and persuades a woman not to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge. Trever’s Mom, Arlene, forgives her Mom, a homeless alcoholic, for all the booze, men, & what they did to her when Mom wasn’t looking. Arlene’s Mom gives a ride to a thief trying to escape the police. The thief tells an ER nurse to treat a girl with a severe asthma attack, before treating his own wound. The girl’s father gives his Jaguar (a car) to a reporter whose car was just wrecked. The reporter does a story on how Pay It Forward spread from Las Vegas to L.A. to San Francisco and Phoenix.
Trever saves another boy from bullies. One bully stabs Trever in the abdomin, and Trever dies. Trever’s example motivates Mr. Simonet to build a better relationship with him Mom, Arlene. So you can see that many were changed by Trever’s simple idea to show kindness to 3 people.
That makes me wonder how our community would be changed if each of us showed kindness to 1 or 2 people this week. When was the last time you went out of your way to show kindness to someone else?
I was at the library and needed to print 59 copies off the internet. I went to pay for the copies, which amounted to $5.90. I had only a $20 bill to pay, which meant the librarian gave me a lot of change. Then another lady used a $5 to pay for a $2 used book, but the librarian did not have 3 singles for change. So I gave her 3 singles back and told them to consider it a donation to the library. They thanked me, but it was really just a small kindness.
When was the last time you went out of your way to show kindness to someone? Can you do it this week?
"Always try to be kind to each other." I Thessalonians 5:15
I have been touched by your many acts of kindness toward my family and me, and thanks again to those who came to help paint our home.
In the Master’s service,
Pastor Randy