The Power Of Simple Kindness
The slogan started appearing on billboards in the early 1990’s, “Practice Random Acts of Kindness.” According to Gavin Whitsett, author of a small handbook entitled, “Guerilla Kindness,” the movement is a response to the “random acts of violence” that are so much a part of the daily news. The author as well as others who were a part of the movement encouraged others to do little things for people that would make the world a happier place. They suggested such things as: paying the toll for the car behind them at a toll booth, waving to children on school buses, sending flowers to a nursing home, putting nickels in playground sandboxes. The goal was to make you feel good & feel like you were making a difference. But is the goal of kindness to make us feel good? I don’t think so.
To illustrate why consider the true story of a man famous for being “kind”... Mister Rogers. A year or two before Fred Roger’s death someone in Philadelphia where he lived stole his car. The news media got a hold of the story and before long all the local TV stations were broadcasting the story. Thousands of Philadelphia citizens saw the story, including the thief who stole the car. This criminal had dealt with his own share of difficult times, but he knew that when he was small Fred Rogers had been a positive influence on him. Fred Roger’s kindness prompted him to do something that he had probably never done before. He returned the car. Now, I’m certainly not suggesting that Fred Roger’s brand of kindness is the only kind of kindness that there is out there. You don’t have to put on a sweater & invite kids to play in your neighborhood to be kind. But even when it’s that type of kindness, kindness has the power to touch the hearts of the most hardened people.
John Wesley told Christians 250 years ago “Do all the good you can. By all the means you can. In all the ways you can. In all the places you can. At all the times you can. To all the people you can. As long as ever you can.”
Throughout the New Testament we are reminded of how our actions reflect our faith, and the ultimate outcome of the entire discussion is that it doesn’t matter how religious you are, it doesn’t matter how spiritual you talk, and it doesn’t matter how you perceive yourself, your actions talk louder than your words. As James put it, “Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, ‘Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well’ ...but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?” (James 2:15-16) Jesus himself told us that our behavior would validate our claims to be a follower of His. In John 13:35 He said, “Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” That would lead me to believe that the reverse is also true, that our lack of love for one another will prove to the world that we are not His disciples.
Singer & songwriter Harry Chapin is probably most famous for two things. One was the length of his songs and the second was for a song called “Cats in the Cradle” that has likely been quoted in almost every church in the world on Father’s Day. But less known is that Chapin gave half of the profits of his concerts to charity and that he fought tirelessly for the poor. As a matter of fact five years after he was killed in a car accident at the age of 39 he was awarded the Congressional Medal Of Honor because of the work he did for the poor in this country. His feelings about kindness are summed up on the epitaph on his tombstone, which of course came from one of his songs. On his tombstone it reads, “If a man tried to take his time on earth and prove before he died what one man’s life could be worth, I wonder what would happen to this world?”
Kindness is “caring enough about others that we treat them with gentleness, graciousness and generosity.” Someone out there needs to experience Abba Father’s kindness through your kindness. Your kindness has the power to touch their heart so that his kindness can transform their lives.