Random Acts of Kindness
Kindness, acts of kindness, references to randomly caring for others can be traced through many books of the Bible.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5. 22-23)
The last seven words of Galatians 5. 22-23 are significant to the meaning of doing acts of kindness.
One of the trends adopted in the past few years has been “paying it forward.” As a recipient of such action, I witness to the joy and gratitude that filled my heart.
The other day when purchasing my coffee in a local coffee shop, I said to the server, "Keep the change and put a gift card for someone with it." This action was not so much about the good feeling in my heart--it was more the reaction from the server. She remarked, “This (gift card) will make in the life of someone today.” Her facial expression spoke a thousand words.
A favorite author writes that each of us should do three acts of kindness each day. Anne Frank wrote in her diary, “No one has ever become poor by giving.”
The idea is that these random acts of kindness be performed anonymously, three actions for three people each day—anonymously.
These three acts of goodness will have a multiplying effect. As I shared above, it was after being a recipient of a “paying it forward”, that I was moved to do likewise. With one act many more will be generated, and so on, and so on.
It is like the ‘Star Fish theory’:
It all started when…
A young girl was walking along a beach where thousands of starfish had washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean.
People watched her with amusement.
Finally, a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish. You can’t begin to make a difference!”
The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied,
“Well, I made a difference for that one!”
The old man looked at her and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined in and all the starfish were saved!
May we all keep making a difference.
Archdeacon Brian+
