I got back a few days ago from Youthquake - an amazing, fun, exciting, challenging missions week for middle school students! There were 28 in our group, and we had a blast! Sure, there was hard work, little sleep, giant slugs, but...having the chance to serve arm in arm with these students and leaders was a blessing to me. People from our group did yard work, visited retirement homes, conducted vacation Bible school, washed wheelchairs, did car washes and much more... Another highlight was the day we did a "random act of kindness" - and made lunches for...well, we didn't know who we were making them for, but we were going to give them away. We thought we would be giving the majority of them to the homeless in Salem, but we didn't know. As we approached the Marion Bridge our lead van didn't see anyone to give lunches to, so we proceeded over to Riverfront Park. We ended up splitting into 2 groups - one heading into "town" to see who needed lunches there; the rest of us stayed in the park to do our "random" act of kindness, and just give away lunches to whomever we came in contact with. To our surprise, workers were setting up for "The Bite" - a weekend festival coming up. Little did we know that ALL those setting up the rides were day workers who were going to have to go find something to eat. Once we handed out one lunch, we were swarmed with others looking for a meal as well. It was really pretty amazing to see the need, appreciation, and surprise on the faces of the men, working SO hard, yet not knowing where their lunch was going to come from. God put us in just the right spot at the right time...but it got me thinking...
Why is it these days that kindness is considered random? Why is it that when someone does something nice that it is unexpected, brings surprise, and almost shocks the recipients? Isn't that sad? It reminded me of the news story a couple of weeks ago from Kansas where a woman was stabbed, and 5 people (yes 5) walked passed her and didn't offer to help - one of those people even took a picture with their cell phone as they walked over this woman, who would die a short time later. I was completely shocked. In this age of cell phones why did it take 2 minutes for someone to call 911?? I mean, you can pull it out of your pocket to take a picture, but you can't call the police? I'm not meaning to slam this person who made this choice, because most honestly, I think similarly we each pass up opportunities each day to just do the right thing - to serve someone because they have extraordinary worth, uniqueness, value...because God made them in His image, and He loves them. How could I help but love them back?
I don't want kindness in my life to be random. I don't want to have to consciously decide, ok, today I'm going to do something kind for someone else. I talked about this concept at The Link this weekend - one of the verses that struck me during my study was in Psalm 119:5 (NLT) - "Oh that my actions would CONSISTENTLY reflect your decrees." Oh that I would live my life in such a way that moment by moment, opportunity by opportunity, person by person I would honor Him with my choices to see them as He sees them, and treat them accordingly. I fall short. Day in and day out. I want to do better. Lord please help me...
So...I hope today you will choose for kindness not to be random - not to be an "act" - but to be a true reflection of your love for Him and for those He loves...
Why is it these days that kindness is considered random? Why is it that when someone does something nice that it is unexpected, brings surprise, and almost shocks the recipients? Isn't that sad? It reminded me of the news story a couple of weeks ago from Kansas where a woman was stabbed, and 5 people (yes 5) walked passed her and didn't offer to help - one of those people even took a picture with their cell phone as they walked over this woman, who would die a short time later. I was completely shocked. In this age of cell phones why did it take 2 minutes for someone to call 911?? I mean, you can pull it out of your pocket to take a picture, but you can't call the police? I'm not meaning to slam this person who made this choice, because most honestly, I think similarly we each pass up opportunities each day to just do the right thing - to serve someone because they have extraordinary worth, uniqueness, value...because God made them in His image, and He loves them. How could I help but love them back?
I don't want kindness in my life to be random. I don't want to have to consciously decide, ok, today I'm going to do something kind for someone else. I talked about this concept at The Link this weekend - one of the verses that struck me during my study was in Psalm 119:5 (NLT) - "Oh that my actions would CONSISTENTLY reflect your decrees." Oh that I would live my life in such a way that moment by moment, opportunity by opportunity, person by person I would honor Him with my choices to see them as He sees them, and treat them accordingly. I fall short. Day in and day out. I want to do better. Lord please help me...
So...I hope today you will choose for kindness not to be random - not to be an "act" - but to be a true reflection of your love for Him and for those He loves...
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