Kindness and blessings
What random act of kindness have you experienced lately? How…
Random acts of kindness
In the name of Jesus, the world could use a whole lot more kindness.
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A random act of kindness made my day.
My 4-year-old granddaughter squirmed in her car seat as we pulled into the Chick-fil-A drive-thru.
Just after 6 a.m., Norah was wide awake and excited after a sleepover at her Papa and Nana’s house.
I rolled down my window and Norah’s, too, as we awaited our chicken and scrambled eggs. Norah giggled as she lifted her bare feet into the breeze.
“Norah, please keep your toes inside the car,” I requested, only making her tee-hee more.
After just a minute, a Chick-fil-A team member with a familiar face — let’s be honest, I’m a regular — arrived with our food and chocolate milk.
“You brought somebody with you today,” the team member said with a smile.
Bobby and Tamie Ross with their grandchildren, Norah and Bennett.
“Yes, it’s my granddaughter,” I replied, proudly.
“How many grandkids do you have?” she asked.
“Two. Norah has an older brother, Bennett.”
Then the woman handed me two little plastic bags with stuffed cows inside, in keeping with Chick-fil-A’s “Eat Mor Chikin” slogan.
It was just a tiny gesture. But as I drove away, I couldn’t help but feel better about the world.
American optimism has slumped to a record low, according to Gallup. Fewer than 60 percent of U.S. adults anticipate high-quality lives in five years, the recent poll found.
Among the concerns driving pessimism: affordability issues, turbulent national politics and global conflicts, the Washington Post reported.
Norah Ross enjoys a bit of reading with her breakfast.
Can you relate? Might a random act of kindness make you feel better?
It sure did for Aaron Sayles during a recent bout with COVID-19.
Fifteen years ago, Sayles served as the youth minister for the Tonto Street Church of Christ in Phoenix. Most of his youth group’s former teens are around 30 years old now. When one of them found out that Sayles, who now lives in Virginia, was ill, she called to check on him and tell him she was praying.
Aaron Sayles now lives in Virginia but previously served as a youth minister in Arizona.
“Then Ashley surprised me with a care package delivered right to my door,” said Sayles, a member of the Newport News Church of Christ. “Inside was delicious chicken noodle soup, warm rolls and cookies, along with a little note saying I was her favorite youth minister.
“It was such a thoughtful and touching act of kindness,” added Sayles, who serves on The Christian Chronicle’s board of trustees.
What if we all tried to be kinder — be it sending encouraging notes, waving at a stranger or just improving our sometimes surly attitudes?
In a dark theater recently, a woman sat down in one of the seats reserved for my wife and daughter. I leaned over and told her Seats 6 and 7 belonged to me.
“Well, where is five?” the lady asked.
“I assume it’s on the other side of six,” I replied, gruffly.
I could have — and should have — done better.
“Random acts of kindness should be so much a part of our life as a Christian that the word random is foreign to us,” said Charlie Harrison, minister for the Brunswick Church of Christ in Maine.
Kindness is biblical, after all. “Love is kind,” as 1 Corinthians 13:4 notes. Jesus himself said in Luke 6:31, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
“In the name of Jesus, the world could use a whole lot more kindness.”
Would you want others to be rude (like me at the movie) or kind?
In the name of Jesus, the world could use a whole lot more kindness.
BOBBY ROSS JR. is Editor-in-Chief of The Christian Chronicle. Reach him at [email protected].
