Kindness

Several acts of unexpected kindness came this way recently.  A new neighbor who lives on the highway below the farm came up before Irma arrived to see if there was anything he could do to help with our hurricane preparation.   And, then, after Irma left he drove up the dirt lane from our house to the highway to see if there were any trees or limbs in the road that would prevent us from leaving.  While the road was clear except for some minor debris, there was plenty of limb damage to the pecan trees around here which means a lot of cleanup is ahead.

 

While doing some of that work today, I took a pick up truck bed of limbs and a trailer filled with even more to the recycling center today.  When I finished unloading the truck bed, two young Hispanic guys came up to unload some stuff and as when they finished, they came over and started helping to unload my trailer.  A long hot job was done in a matter of a few minutes!  I offered a "gracias" and they went their way.  But, remembering their kindness has certainly shaped my day.

Acts of kindness cost us very little.  Most of us see opportunities to offer kindness to someone every day.  It just takes a few minutes.  It might mean losing a few minutes on our hurried journey, or a bit of sweat, or maybe a moment of sharing a caring conversation.  What really takes little from us usually is translated in something really big in the life of the one on the receiving end of  some act of kindness.  One thing is certain.  If we are following Jesus, we will find ourselves seeing opportunities often because He will always be stopping and inviting us to stop with Him.