Acts of Kindness

A few years ago, I observed a small but striking act of kindness.

I was walking from our house to a drugstore that was a few blocks away. As I came up to a busy intersection I saw a man who was clearly drunk, staggering his way across the street while the traffic was moving.

Almost as fast as I saw him, I saw a car stop. The car was a high-end, luxury car. The man who got out was wearing an expensive suit. He left his car parked in the middle of the road, went to the drunk man, took him by the arm, and carefully helped him through the traffic and across the street to the sidewalk. Then he turned and made his way back to his car. It was a very small but very kind act that touched me deeply.

What made this small incident of kindness extra striking for me was that I recognized the man. He was from the church we attended. In fact, he was probably the most successful and wealthiest man in the church.

That weekend I saw him in church and I commented on how touched I had been to see him stop and help the man across the street. It was interesting to see his response. He seemed kind of embarrassed that I had seen him and downplayed his actions, as though they were no big deal.

But the lesson stuck. It wasn’t a huge sacrifice on his part, but in the middle of a busy day, with plenty to do, he found time for an act of kindness.

It challenged me then and it continues to challenge me now to be kind. Do you find time for acts of kindness? Do I?  In 1 Corinthians 13, it states that love is kind. We are challenged to be people who invest ourselves in kindness in the relationships God has given us.

I thought of this as a practical challenge: What if each of us committed ourselves every day to do 3 specific acts of kindness? What if 3 times in our day we went out of our way to do something kind for someone? What if we found 3 times a day in which we could “bless” people. It could be in any of our relationships, either with those close to us or with those we don’t really know but see as we go about life. How would those acts of kindness help others? How would they help us?

Can I challenge you to do that, starting today? Don’t let yourself fall to sleep before you do 3 kind things. I think it will have a surprising impact.

I am looking forward to the weekend.

Blessings,

Pastor Bill