Coming out of a movie theater after a family outing, my youngest daughter picked up something from the ground. I looked over, thinking she'd dropped something.
"What's that?" I asked.
She shrugged. "Something for me to throw away later."
Litter? She was picking up litter in a big old public parking lot?
When we got home, I sidled close to her and said, "Hey, thanks for doing that. But what made you think of it?"
She explained that on her recent mission trip, where she worked to clean and paint a community center, they discussed the issue of being a servant. It was easy during the parameters of the mission trip to think about giving their labor to others each day, but could be easy to forget about once they got home. My daughter didn't want to revert to the way most of us function - avoiding the dirty jobs. She wanted to bring the attitude of humble service into every day.
Cool, isn't it?
And other than this time when I caught her at it, it's the sort of quiet service that no one will ever see or praise or reward.
I once spent a week at a retreat center, and a nun who was also on the retreat wiped down the public restroom's sink and counter after getting ready in the morning. I never would have thought of doing that...leaving the space nicer than it was for the stranger who would use it next.
Can you think of other "invisible" acts of servanthood?
Remember, everyone who posts comments before August 1st will be entered in a drawing for a Penny's Project Notebook (to keep track of your small steps of kindness)
Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Friday, July 18, 2008
Praising Someone - Behind Their Back
We all know the horrible feeling of finding out someone has said something mean about us behind our back.
But there is an equally powerful joy in learning someone shared a kind report about us to others.
I just returned from the International Christian Retail Show - an exhausting experience. One day, I got a call. A store manager had stopped by my publisher's booth and raved about my books. They told him I was at the conference, and called me to arrange for me to meet him. I was so encouraged by his enthusiasm. But it also felt amazing to think of someone "talking behind my back" in such a terrific way. He made me look good to my publishers.
In Stepping Into Sunlight, Penny tells a store manager about a clerk that has done a terrific job. The manager and clerk are both startled, but it makes the clerk's day, and raises her in the eyes of her rather cranky manager.
It's so much easier to whine and complain about people. I confess I slip into it far too often. But I've been concentrating on finding opportunities to genuinely talk up someone I like or admire behind his or her back. They may never find out, but it does raise their esteem. And if they do hear about it, it just might make their day.
Can you think of someone you could speak well of behind their back?
We've discussed the power of a kind word, but let's try the power of a covert kind word and see what happens. :-)
Feel free to share your stories here.
Everyone who comments will be entered in a drawing for a free Penny's Project Notebook.
Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
But there is an equally powerful joy in learning someone shared a kind report about us to others.
I just returned from the International Christian Retail Show - an exhausting experience. One day, I got a call. A store manager had stopped by my publisher's booth and raved about my books. They told him I was at the conference, and called me to arrange for me to meet him. I was so encouraged by his enthusiasm. But it also felt amazing to think of someone "talking behind my back" in such a terrific way. He made me look good to my publishers.
In Stepping Into Sunlight, Penny tells a store manager about a clerk that has done a terrific job. The manager and clerk are both startled, but it makes the clerk's day, and raises her in the eyes of her rather cranky manager.
It's so much easier to whine and complain about people. I confess I slip into it far too often. But I've been concentrating on finding opportunities to genuinely talk up someone I like or admire behind his or her back. They may never find out, but it does raise their esteem. And if they do hear about it, it just might make their day.
Can you think of someone you could speak well of behind their back?
We've discussed the power of a kind word, but let's try the power of a covert kind word and see what happens. :-)
Feel free to share your stories here.
Everyone who comments will be entered in a drawing for a free Penny's Project Notebook.
Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Follow-up
After posting the story about the kind clerk in the grocery store, I received this email from Judy and she gave me permission to share:
---
Last week I read your Book Buddies update and your account of the "kindness" in the grocery store. I turn off the computer and head to the grocery store to do my weekly shopping. I was looking through a display stack of tortillas, checking the expiration dates on the packages.
I pulled one off the stack, and the entire display fell and packages of tortillas splattered at my feet. Honest! This really happened!
My first impulse was to run out of the store. Then I thought of you and the Buddy update. I bent down to pick up the packages of tortillas and restack the display. Before I could pick up even one package, a clerk was bending down next to me. "That's okay," he said. "This happens all the time. I'll pick them up. You go ahead and finish your shopping."
I pushed my cart up and down the remaining aisles with a huge silly grin on my face--thinking of you. :-)
---
Thanks for sharing, Judy! Isn't it fun to notice the small kindnesses given to us each day? It gets me excited to find ways to make someone else's day.
Has someone blessed you with a gracious word, a kind gesture, a small gift? Post a comment about it between now and August 1st, and I'll draw a name to win a free Penny's Project notebook!
Sharon Hinck
---
Last week I read your Book Buddies update and your account of the "kindness" in the grocery store. I turn off the computer and head to the grocery store to do my weekly shopping. I was looking through a display stack of tortillas, checking the expiration dates on the packages.
I pulled one off the stack, and the entire display fell and packages of tortillas splattered at my feet. Honest! This really happened!
My first impulse was to run out of the store. Then I thought of you and the Buddy update. I bent down to pick up the packages of tortillas and restack the display. Before I could pick up even one package, a clerk was bending down next to me. "That's okay," he said. "This happens all the time. I'll pick them up. You go ahead and finish your shopping."
I pushed my cart up and down the remaining aisles with a huge silly grin on my face--thinking of you. :-)
---
Thanks for sharing, Judy! Isn't it fun to notice the small kindnesses given to us each day? It gets me excited to find ways to make someone else's day.
Has someone blessed you with a gracious word, a kind gesture, a small gift? Post a comment about it between now and August 1st, and I'll draw a name to win a free Penny's Project notebook!
Sharon Hinck
One Little Kind Word
I truly spend most of my life floundering around convinced I'm not of much use to God's kingdom and wishing I could do something more to lift the load of my friends who are hurting, or to honor His name, or to meet the needs I see in the world.
Every now and again, God gives me a glimpse of a way He HAS used me when I wasn't looking.
Months ago I hosted a small gathering at my home. One of the women had shared about some discouragement, and as she left that evening, I casually said, "If you ever want to talk, feel free to call."
Simple words. Tossed out almost without thought. Certainly no great act of sacrifice or love. This was a sweet woman to whom it was easy to reach out.
But she later wrote to me and shared that the simple invitation was an answer to a long battle she had fought with feeling insignificant. She had been praying that God would do something to reassure her that she was lovable, that she was important to Him. Standing on my front porch, she felt His answer.
Wow.
I've been on the receiving end of those sorts of timely, kind words, as well.
Last winter, I was facing a scary heart catheterization procedure. The morning before heading to the hospital, I opened my emails and found one from a woman I'd met briefly several months earlier (who knew nothing about my health struggles). "I don't know why," she wrote. "and this might sound weird. But for some reason God has really impressed on me that I should pray for you. So I wanted to let you know I'm praying."
I put my head on my desk and burst into tears. Joyful tears. Without me even asking, He was nudging people to support me in prayer.
How about you? Have you ever received the gift of a kind word at a crucial time?
Or have you said something and later learned it was exactly what the other person needed?
Proverbs 25:11 says, "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."
Let's find some ways to share golden apples today!
Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
Every now and again, God gives me a glimpse of a way He HAS used me when I wasn't looking.
Months ago I hosted a small gathering at my home. One of the women had shared about some discouragement, and as she left that evening, I casually said, "If you ever want to talk, feel free to call."
Simple words. Tossed out almost without thought. Certainly no great act of sacrifice or love. This was a sweet woman to whom it was easy to reach out.
But she later wrote to me and shared that the simple invitation was an answer to a long battle she had fought with feeling insignificant. She had been praying that God would do something to reassure her that she was lovable, that she was important to Him. Standing on my front porch, she felt His answer.
Wow.
I've been on the receiving end of those sorts of timely, kind words, as well.
Last winter, I was facing a scary heart catheterization procedure. The morning before heading to the hospital, I opened my emails and found one from a woman I'd met briefly several months earlier (who knew nothing about my health struggles). "I don't know why," she wrote. "and this might sound weird. But for some reason God has really impressed on me that I should pray for you. So I wanted to let you know I'm praying."
I put my head on my desk and burst into tears. Joyful tears. Without me even asking, He was nudging people to support me in prayer.
How about you? Have you ever received the gift of a kind word at a crucial time?
Or have you said something and later learned it was exactly what the other person needed?
Proverbs 25:11 says, "A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver."
Let's find some ways to share golden apples today!
Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
Monday, July 7, 2008
The History of Kindness
Long before the movie "Pay it Forward" or "Oprah's Big Give," people around the world have been excited by the idea of unexpected steps of kindness - doing something caring and loving without expecting reciprocation. Here are a few examples:
You can visit the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation here.
In 1994 Mary Colf wrote 301 Random Acts of Kindness.
In 1999, Barbara Johnson wrote a children's book called Christian Acts of Kindness.
But some of my favorite examples of the power of small acts of kindness are recorded in the New Testament Gospels.
A little boy shares a few fish and loaves of bread, and Jesus multiplies it into enough to feed thousands.
A widow gives two small coins, and Jesus says that while others coming to the temple gave large amounts, the woman's gift was precious because she gave all she had.
Even further back, in the Old Testament, another widow makes a meal from her last bits of oil and flour for a weary prophet, Elijah. And as he stayed with her and her son, day after day, God miraculously kept the oil and flour from running out.
What I love about the Biblical accounts, is that the human part of the equation is hopelessly inadequate for the need--yet God takes our small offerings and accomplishes His purposes.
Kindness isn't about celebrating human goodness, but about being a vessel that share's God's greatness.
As one of my favorite verses says, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." (2 Cor. 4:7)
Have you ever done a small simple act and been surprised by the way God did something much more profound through it? Tomorrow I'll share an example from my life.
Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
You can visit the Random Acts of Kindness Foundation here.
In 1994 Mary Colf wrote 301 Random Acts of Kindness.
In 1999, Barbara Johnson wrote a children's book called Christian Acts of Kindness.
But some of my favorite examples of the power of small acts of kindness are recorded in the New Testament Gospels.
A little boy shares a few fish and loaves of bread, and Jesus multiplies it into enough to feed thousands.
A widow gives two small coins, and Jesus says that while others coming to the temple gave large amounts, the woman's gift was precious because she gave all she had.
Even further back, in the Old Testament, another widow makes a meal from her last bits of oil and flour for a weary prophet, Elijah. And as he stayed with her and her son, day after day, God miraculously kept the oil and flour from running out.
What I love about the Biblical accounts, is that the human part of the equation is hopelessly inadequate for the need--yet God takes our small offerings and accomplishes His purposes.
Kindness isn't about celebrating human goodness, but about being a vessel that share's God's greatness.
As one of my favorite verses says, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." (2 Cor. 4:7)
Have you ever done a small simple act and been surprised by the way God did something much more profound through it? Tomorrow I'll share an example from my life.
Blessings!
Sharon Hinck
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
