A kind word is like a Spring day. ~Russian Proverb
I sent out a Valentine newsletter Sunday night. Of course, I included a chance to win a book and as a Valentine bonus some chocolates. I’m hearing from so many of you who include a kind and encouraging few words with your entries. People need those kind words and what better time to hear them than in the month of February when winter starts to get long and spring seems too many days away. I certainly appreciate words like I love your books, or I’m always glad to get your newsletter, or I can’t wait until your new book comes out. Those type of words can boost a writer’s spirits especially when she’s trying to dig a new story out of her head the way I’m doing right now.
Kindness, like a boomerang, always returns.~Author Unknown
I hope your words of kindness are like a boomerang that return to you, perhaps in slightly different forms, but just as good.
The best portion of a good man’s life – his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love.~William Wordsworth
I sat here tonight trying to think of acts of kindness I have experienced. I know there have been many but most of them lurked out in the dark of my memory. As the quote says, those little unremembered acts of kindness and love. While I don’t remember them all, I do remember some.
Years ago, when the vehicle I had to drive was an old Chevy pick-up truck. It was a straight shift with gears that had a tendency to hang up. When that happened, I’d have to open the hood, climb up on bumper and punch at the gear apparatus with a screwdriver until I got them unstuck. It was hard to reach and I never exactly where to punch. I was always simply glad when I hit the right spot. One day with my two young kids in the truck, I stopped at a country grocery store for something and the gears hung. So there I was in my go to town clothes trying to be a mechanic and doing a poor job of it. A young man took pity on me, scooted under the truck where he said it would be easier to get the gear arms free and fixed it for me. He didnt’ know me. I didn’t know him, but I have never forgotten him and his moment of kindness.
More recently, I was gifted with a moment of kindness by one of the neighbor kids. You all know Frankie. That’s my dog who has a way of being a rascal and sometimes running off to the neighbors instead of staying with me the way I tell him to. That’s why he’s on leash except when we are back in the field away from the house. But he has a way of making an escape now and again. He did just that a couple of weeks ago. So I put my other dog, Marley, who never runs away, back in the yard and set out to the neighbors’ field thinking I’d have to chase Frankie down. But when I go out on our little lane, my teenage neighbor had Frankie by the collar and was walking him up the road to me. I could have kissed him, but figured that probably wouldn’t have felt like an act of kindness to him. 🙂 So, instead I thanked him effusively and snapped the leash on Frankie.
Then just last Sunday, one of the ladies at church brought Darrell and me a huge box of candy. Very unexpected, but so kind. And delicious too!
What this world needs is a new kind of army – the army of the kind.~Cleveland Amory
So many today seem to be crosswise with one another, not able to agree on many things. But you don’t have to agree on issues to agree to be kind.
I hope you stumble over kindnesses every day however little, nameless and unremembered they might be.
Do you remember a little act of kindness you’ve experienced or offered another?
(Oh, by the way, if you didn’t get my newsletter and would like to read it, just let me know. I’ll send a copy your way. And of course, you can sign up on the form in the side panel of my website pages to be on my list. Sometimes the newsletters get stuck in your Spam folder. So if you think you’ve signed up for my newsletter and didn’t see a copy in your email box, you might check the spam folder.)
Comments 9
Many times I go to Walmart and some of the items I want are unreachable by me. No one has pulled things up to the edge of the shelf and I look around to try to find a tall person. Most recently I had to ask two different tall people to reach an item for me and they most happily did. I’m thankful to these people or else I would have went home without my favorite things.
Author
Sometimes it is so easy to be part of that army of the kind, Connie. Glad you spotted a tall person when you needed help. 🙂
I am 75, 5’1″ and disabled. There is a man from my church who is much younger than me, and is 6’4″! So he comes over and does things for me like changing light bulbs in ceiling fixtures and getting seasonal stuff from and back into the attic. He will even dust high places!! He is divorced, lives alone and hates to cook. I love to cook (and bake) so I bring him meals and muffins. I will leave a bag in the refrigerator at church with his name on it, he is the Office Administrator. Last week I texted him that the next time he was at the office, to grab a bottle of water. I left his bag there! Since he almost lives at church, I knew it would be found soon. 🙂 🙂
Author
You are definitely being blessed by a soldier in the army of the kind, Marjorie. How nice that he takes advantage of his height to help you out with things you can’t get done by yourself. Thank you for sharing that. And of course, you bless him with the good things you cook and bake.
Sometimes we don’t realize how we can do the simplest things to make a day brighter for another.
I love how we can show kindness to others in many ways. Sometimes a simple smile and a hello can brighten the day. 🙂
Author
I feel the same way, Melissa. I think that was one of the worst things about the pandemic, unless of course, you caught the virus. But I missed seeing smiles from the people I saw.
I love all your stories you use as examples. I remember an act of kindness just a few weeks ago when a neighbor bought lunch for John and me after a tornado left tree debris everywhere and a branch pierced our garage roof. We (and numerous neighbors) had tree men here trimming and taking out damaged trees, and the power was off that first day since a tree had fallen on the power lines. There was just a lot of expense and extra work between our tree work, the roof, and the fence, not to mention the clean-up in general. So, a sweet neighbor who does not normally do things like this stopped at a restaurant we like and brought lunch to us. It really ministered to my heart. I definitely call that kindness.
A beautiful thing indeed!!
Author
That was really nice of your neighbor. You know, many of us think about doing something like that at time, but then we hesitate or forget or let what we think is too much time go by. Hope everything is back to shipshape after the tornado damage for you, Suzanne.