âYou donât do kind deeds expecting kindness in return. You donât do kind deeds because you deem the recipient worthy. You do kind deeds, because itâs who you are and you understand the powerful difference your gentle hand makes in this dreary world.â - Richelle E. Goodrich
âThere is no religion without love and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham.â - Anna Sewell-
âBe kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.â
Prayers for Strangers
Yesterday I didnât drive well;
I made a bad mistake.
Thank you God for the stranger
Whose foot slammed on his brake.
All day today I prayed for him,
As I prayed for many more
Who were quick-thinking at the wheel
And saved my life before.
Thereâs no other gift to give
To a stranger you donât meet
Than to offer prayers for him
And lay them at Godâs feet.
So every time I think about
Some driver who was skilled
And managed to undo a threat
That could have been fulfilled,
I say another prayer
For those strangers I donât know
Who were wide awake and ready
When I was dim and slow.
âWe cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.â - Ray Bradbury-
âAll the big words - virtue, justice, truth - are dwarfed by the greatness of kindness.â Stephen Fry-
But deep this truth impressâd my mind:
Throâ all His works abroad,
The heart benevolent and kind
The most resembles God. - Robert Burns
But when God, our kind and loving Saviour God, stepped in⌠He gave us a good bath, and we came out of it new people.
A kinder world begins with you âŚ
Where mercy, love and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too.
âIn the long run, the greatest weapon of all is a kind and gentle spirit.â -Anne Frank
âA true friend leaves paw prints on your heart.â
âYou may have many best friends but your dog only has one.â
âAt your worst, your dog will still love you unconditionally, even when you donât feel worthy of it.â
âWhoever said diamonds are a girlâs best friend never owned a dog.â
The tender loving care of human beings will never become obsolete. People even more than things have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed and redeemed and redeemed. Never throw out anybody.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, youâll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
I wasnât paying attention at the time to the good example my father set. He wasnât consciously âsetting a good exampleâ â he was just living life according to his values.
It was the 1950s in a small Middle Georgia farm town. Our family owned a clothing store in the middle of the main business block downtown. Six days a week, 8am until 6pm (9pm on Saturday), my father presided over his business. And sometimes an angel would come to our store.
I didnât recognize those visitors as angels. Neither did my mother, who accepted my fatherâs decisions but referred to Daddyâs angels as âbumsâ. She was concerned that they painted hobo marks to guide others to my father. My father was, and still is, an extremely kind man. He bought them lunch.
I guess Daddy knew Mamaâs opinion and took precautions in case any individual âangelâ might actually be an alcoholic. He would have a friendly, encouraging conversation with the person, who was shabby and obviously down on his luck.
Then Daddy would walk him across the street to the Coffee Cup Cafe and pay for him to eat the daily special, a hearty meal. Depending on how the conversation was going, Daddy would sometimes sit and have lunch with him.
Another variation on this theme was sometimes Daddy would bring the man to our house to do yard work to earn a bus ticket. Mama would feed him a good home cooked meal but would serve it to him in the kitchen or on the back steps.
Daddy explained his theory of angels to his children this way: âItâs Biblical. Sometimes God sends an angel among men unawares, to test us. How we behave toward the least of his children is how we treat Him.â
I remember chuckling at my ânaiveâ fatherâs actions later when I got more grown and more savvy. I laughed that he got it backwards about who the angel was.
Now that I am middle-aged, Iâm proud to say that I realize how blessed I am to have such a wise and good man, Joseph Van Johnson, as my father and my teacher.
I am also doubly blessed to be meeting angels now myself. More than once I have recognized God Himself staring back at me from the face of a homeless mentally ill person. I understand now that my father was respecting the spirit of God that is within each of us. - Kay Johnson McCrary
Give encouragement on a daily basis - and if youâre not particularly good at it - then try it for just one week and see how it feels - and observe the change in the dynamics of the people around you - they will be incredible. One week of successful encouragement will change your entire life - because it will become a great habit.
âLove, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day.â â Max Lucado
"Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."
âKindness is the right use of will. Kindness is GOOD WILL â expressed as caring, helping, refraining from hurtful actions, sharing, making life work, and consideration of others. Kindness is strength in action. The confidence that comes from showing kindness is a masterful influence in any situation.â --Love Without End: Jesus Speaks â Glenda Green
"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of Godâs grace in its various forms."
âDo your little bit of good where you are; itâs those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.â - Desmond Tutu
âKindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.â - Mark Twain
I walked into the grocery store not particularly interested in buying groceries. I wasnât hungry. The pain of losing my husband of 37 years was still too raw. And this grocery store held so many sweet memories.
Rudy often came with me and almost every time heâd pretend to go off and look for something special. I knew what he was up to. Iâd always spot him walking down the aisle with the three yellow roses in his hands.
Rudy knew I loved yellow roses. With a heart filled with grief, I only wanted to buy my few items and leave, but even grocery shopping was different since Rudy had passed on.
Shopping for one took time, a little more thought than it had for two. Standing by the meat, I searched for the perfect small steak and remembered how Rudy had loved his steak. Suddenly a woman came beside me.
She was blond, slim and lovely in a soft green pantsuit. I watched as she picked up a large pack of T-bones, dropped them in her basket, hesitated, and then put them back. She turned to go and once again reached for the pack of steaks. She saw me watching her and she smiled.
âMy husband loves T-bones, but honestly, at these prices, I donât know.â I swallowed the emotion down my throat and met her pale blue eyes. âMy husband passed away eight days ago,â I told her. Glancing at the package in her hands, I fought to control the tremble in my voice. âBuy him the steaks. And cherish every moment you have together.â She shook her head and I saw the emotion in her eyes as she placed the package in her basket and wheeled away.
I turned and pushed my cart across the length of the store to the dairy products. There I stood, trying to decide which size milk I should buy. A quart, I finally decided and moved on to the ice cream section near the front of the store. If nothing else, I could always fix myself an ice cream cone.
I placed the ice cream in my cart and looked down the aisle toward the front. I saw first the green suit, then recognized the pretty lady coming towards me. In her arms she carried a package. On her face was the brightest smile I had ever seen. I would swear a soft halo encircled her blond hair as she kept walking toward me, her eyes holding mine. As she came closer, I saw what she held and tears began misting in my eyes. âThese are for you,â she said and placed three beautiful long stemmed yellow roses in my arms. âWhen you go through the line, they will know these are paid for.â She leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on my cheek, then smiled again.
I wanted to tell her what sheâd done, what the roses meant, but still unable to speak, I watched as she walked away as tears clouded my vision. I looked down at the beautiful roses nestled in the green tissue wrapping and found it almost unreal. How did she know? Suddenly the answer seemed so clear. I wasnât alone. âOh, Rudy, you havenât forgotten me, have you?â I whispered, with tears in my yes. He was still with me and she was his angel. -Kay McCrary-
âDo not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.â-- John Wooden
"A random act of kindness, no matter how small, can make a tremendous impact on someone elseâs life.â - Roy T. Bennett
âNo one has ever become poor by givingâ -Anne Frank
Treating other people well isnât just good for your karma. Itâs good for your health and vitality, too.
Psychology researcher Barbara Fredrickson, PhD, author of Love 2.0: Creating Happiness and Health in Moments of Connection , studies how âmicro-momentsâ of connection with others, like sharing a smile or expressing concern, improve emotional resilience, boost the immune system, and reduce susceptibility to depression and anxiety.
World Kindness Day
http://www.dailygood.org/story/346/10-amazing-stories-for-world-kindness-day-dailygood-editors/
The time our bike broke down in Laos
We were in central Laos riding on a motorbike from the infamous Konglor Cave back to Thakhek where we had a flight the next day. About 15 minutes after passing a town our motorbikeâs fuel line broke. It was hotter than Hades and we hadnât seen a car pass in quite awhile. We realized we were in a real jam and decided to not panic and start taking turns pushing the bike back towards the town we passed seeing how we had no map and no idea how far we were from a town in the direction we were going.
We kept calm and kept taking turns pushing until one truck stopped.
A local man and his wife came out while their young son stayed in the truck and watched. None of us could understand each other, but he knew we were in trouble. He rearranged his truck to fit the bike and hauled us to the nearest town to get help. Even working on the bike with the mechanic until it was fixed.
After everything was all said and done, our bill cost us a measly $4. We thanked and offered our generous family money for the ride and helping us out. They were reluctant to take it, but you could see the happiness that filled their eyes.
They didnât have to stop, they didnât have to help us, but they did. Thatâs something that we both will remember the rest of our lives and hope to pay it forward one day.
âI would like to have engraved inside every wedding band BE KIND TO ONE ANOTHER. This is the Golden Rule of marriage and the secret of making love last through the years.â - Randolph Ray
âResearch has shown time and again that people who give to others, in small and large ways, tend to be happier and live longer. I want to live a long and happy life. How about you?â - Lisa Desatnik