Kindness

Have you done your random act of kindness yet today? For a while there was a big push to encourage people to do a random act of kindness each day to help make our communities and world a better place to live in. There were all kinds of stories going around about how people quietly acted to help someone out, to bring a bit of joy into a difficult life, of people who gave what they had, whether it was stuff, or time, or some kind of help to someone they didn't even know just to make their life a little bit better for at least a short time.
Kindness can change another person's day right around, turning a miserable day into a really good day. Kindness offers hope to people who may have lost hope. It can change you as you see how a simple act of kindness can affect someone else, bringing a bit of joy or grace into their day. From what I can see, kindness is love, compassion, and grace in action. Kindness comes from people who are unselfish and generous. Kindness shows what a person's character really is, it's who you are, not just what you do. One of  the best compliments you can give a person is that she is kind, that he has a kind heart.
God is kind and shows kindness to everyone, sending rain and sun to all people, giving gifts and talents to each person, offering love and acceptance and an invitation to anyone to become one of his people, his children.
This is why we are called to do kindness, to imitate God's character in this way. Imagine a world where people worked on their kindness levels, looking for small and large ways to do acts of kindness for others without any need for thanks or recognition. What kinds of communities would we have?
But kindness starts with you and me as individuals making a decision to be kind and to look past ourselves to act kindly no matter how we are feeling, no matter how our own day or life is going. You are the starting place for a better world. So get out there and do a random act of kindness today, tomorrow and every day and you will make the world a better place.