On Kindness

I get so overwhelmed with gratitude for my life when I’m nursing Annabelle in the morning. There is something too precious about a little baby when she first wakes up. She smells a little sweeter and looks more precious in those first minutes somehow. I can barely pray, thanking God for picking me to be her mom, without crying and messing up my make-up. Today I was looking at her and hoping that everyone I know is this happy, as happy as I was right then, at some point in their day. I always do the most of my praying and thinking right then. Today, I thought again during this time about how I need to be more kind to the people I see throughout the day. I am constantly in a hurry and have really been trying to slow down and listen to people so that I might understand their needs better. I need to be more kind.

You know who is really kind? My husband. I am not just saying this to brag on him, I am saying it because I have learned so much from him about kindness and relearn it every day. I thought I might share some with you.

He has been really pushing himself to do kind things for others that are maybe out of his element. He has been challenging himself to think about what would be an act of kindness to the other person, not just what we think is kind. I was talking to Sister #1 about how often I will volunteer to help someone with something, and then they suggest a way I can help them that isn’t exactly what I offered. Now, you have to all admit with me that at times you can feel inconvenienced. It’s like, I want to help, but I want to help in only the way that fits perfectly into my schedule at that exact time. That’s not really kindness though.

I want to be more like my husband, so I thought I might start trying to do little acts of kindness each day. I know this is not a new idea. And this is something I should be doing without having to actually think about doing it, but I thought to get me started I might try to be more conscious of these moments and really put some effort into them. And maybe by writing some down you can hold me accountable?

I will try for a week to do something each day and tell you about it. You might have to cut me some slack here as I show you how selfish of a person I really am.

Tonight I am going to make a dinner and deliver it to a friend who is having a hard time. This is not a big deal, I know, and isn’t overly “kind”, but if you know me at all you know that I’m not the best at making dinners for people. I’m much better at ordering 54^thStreet or running a pizza by. This will help me take some time out of my “busy” schedule, think and pray about my friend while I’m cooking, and hopefully save her a little bit of time in the evening that she could be spending with her family.

What ideas do you have for me about little acts of kindness that have blessed you in the past that I can send on to others?