When Ally asked for writers I thought it was a great idea, but once I got down to it, I felt a bit stuck. Who knew that kindness could be that complicated?
I posted on my FB page:
"When you think of Kindness (as in the Fruits of the Spirit), what springs to mind?"Thankfully I got serious answers. One of the comments that popped up was about random acts of kindness.
I love random acts of kindness, and as my primary love languages are Acts of Service and Thoughtful Gifts, so Kindness is one of my favourite fruits of the Spirit.
I think it’s also the idea that we live in this world where horrible and harrowing things are reported on the news each day and random acts of kindness are a way of reminding people out there that there are still good things going on in the world. Recently I've been in the supermarket and the person in front of me has had a full trolley and I've had three or four items and the person has let me go in front.
When Chris, my husband was a student in Hull, there were two routes to get across the River Humber. There's a toll bridge, or you can drive further up the estuary to the one of the next main bridges and cross there for free. If Chris could spare the money, he’d take the toll bridge and pay for the car behind as well as his. It would often confuse both the teller in the booth as well as the driver behind. Whenever he told me about doing it I would want to be a “fly on the wall” in the car behind to see their reaction.
My favorite random act of kindness that I've done was for my friend Caz.
I got our friend Sooz in on the act. She was going to organise a girlie evening with Caz so that we knew that she was "free". The rest of our group met at the church round the corner. We'd each been assigned something to bring to the party. Our friend who loves cake decorating brought a cake that she'd iced especially with the verse from Ephesians 3 about being rooted in Christ.
"You being rooted in Christ, will know how deep is the love of Christ."
It turned out that it had been a prophecy given to my friend and somehow the friend who made the cake knew about it. We cooked pizza and messed about with face masks - it was a lovely evening and my friend felt so loved and cared for.
So, maybe I just need to get out there and take the bull by the horns so to speak! If someone was to surprise you with a random act of kindness what would it be or do you think it would depend on what was going on at the moment?
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Hannah lives in England with her three boys- her husband Chris, their 16-year-old foster son, and their son Jaxon who is almost 1. She is a work at home mama and says that being a mum is the hardest job she's ever had but it's also the most rewarding! Hannah blogs at Hannah Says...- go visit her site!
Thank you for sharing with us, Hannah!
Stay tuned for the rest of our study in the Fruit of the Spirit!
You can follow along by liking my my page on Facebook, or by checking out the In Season Pinterest board!
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I love watching videos online about random acts of kindness. It's neat to see people's reactions. I have thought about doing 41 RAKs for my 41st birthday next month instead of getting a gift for myself that I really don't need!
ReplyDelete41 RAKs would be so cool! I love the idea of doing them in celebration of a birthday but I have no idea where I'd start - I turn 30 in April so maybe I need to start thinking about it now!
DeleteI believe that kindness is so important and it's sad that when displayed, people are so shocked by it. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I love Lara's idea for her birthday...awesome!
ReplyDeleteI know right! I saw a video of a guy at a supermarket in the US and he'd got the cashier in on the act. When the person at the till got ready to pay, he'd had over the money to the cashier like it was nothing and wander out of shot. The final lady in the video said that she had a horrible morning and it was a really bad day, when the guy paid for her shopping she burst into tears of happiness and turned into a teary mess. The cashier came out from behind the till to give her a big hug.
DeleteI think we are so shocked because it's almost like "You've done this lovely thing for me, what are you expecting in return?" Why do we always expect that there's a catch or something needs to be done in return...? It's a real shame.
I love stories like this. In a world where we are bombarded with so much negativity, it is so refreshing to read stuff like this!
ReplyDeleteHey Mandee!! I actually rarely watch the news now because the amount of negativity it carries - I have a quick look over the BBC News page and read the stories that jump out at me but other than that I avoid it. My husband occasionally puts the 10pm news on to get the gist of what's happening in the world but I tend to leave the room or head to bed at that point. It just gets me down a little that all this hate and hurt is in the world and we rarely hear about the loveliness that is out there unless it's like a crazy story that's gone viral.
DeleteI love this! A friend of mine blogged about what she called joy sprinkles where she did random acts of kindness every day for I think 40 days it was so precious!
ReplyDeleteOh I'd love to read about them if you have the link (or the blog - I can go find it then). Sounds like a whole heap of fun,
DeleteI love random acts of kindness, especially when they are planned out and deliberate! Thanks for sharing these stories.
ReplyDeleteI'm your neighbor over at the #TellHisStory link-up. : )
Hey Cathy! Thanks for stopping by and reading!
DeleteYour random acts of kindness provided a bright spot in a dark world! Thanks for sharing. Visiting today from #TellHisStory
ReplyDeleteHi Ellen, I know what you mean. The world seems to be filled to the rafters with negativity and it's important to shine the light on the good and the kindness that is out there.
Deletei love the idea of random acts of kindness--but you didn't stop there! you also gave us such good examples. i would never have thought of paying for the car behind me at a toll booth. (which kind of goes along with what i'm sharing about next week during this series--goodness!!)
ReplyDeleteHey Julie! The "paying for the car behind" idea is something my husband would do - I always chicken out but I want to do it one day. Maybe look at the person behind me in the supermarket and guesstimate how big their bill is then pay for their shopping or something like that as there's no toll roads near us.
DeleteI think it's important to realize that a significant way most people receive love is through kindness. Love isn't simply the absence of hate. It's evidenced by action, such as intentional acts of caring kindness. Thank you for sharing about kindness, and for linking up with us at Grace & Truth!
ReplyDelete