Random Acts of Kindness

Last night as we were checking out at at the store, a friend of ours walked over from another check out lane and gave Makayla and Mason each a $1 bill.  Makayla was surprised and so very happy.  She quickly folded it up and tucked it away in her pocket.  Mason, on the other hand, was completely oblivious of the kind gesture because he was too busy obsessing over the gum ball machine, begging me to let him get gum.

But,

it was the simple act of kindness.

A dollar bill.

The smile it put on Makayla's face.

How she looked up at Donna (the giver of the dollar) with excitement.

...and I thought to myself.  What goes around comes around.

It started a couple months ago.

I decided that I was going to leave money on a couple of the vending machines at work.  On each vending machine, I left change in a baggie with a note attached that said

 "Enjoy this Random Act Of Kindness"

...and believe it or not, it took days for the money to disappear on the vending machine with the most traffic, the vending machine who has the most visitors.  

Every night, I would go home and talk about it.  I just couldn't believe that nobody would use the change on that vending machine!

Finally, one morning, the baggie of change was gone and in it's place was a note that read:
"Thank you.  God bless you 'random act of kindness' person."

(smile)

While I've done other "Random Acts Of Kindness" things before like paying for meals or passing out  large bills to shoppers in the store, I've always been able to see the face and reaction of the person receiving the random act of kindness.  However, with the change on the vending machine, I didn't get to see the gratitude of the receiver or the surprise that illuminated from their faces.

"When you carry out acts of kindness, you get a wonderful feeling inside.  It is as though something inside your body responds and says "Yes, this is how I ought to feel."

-Harold Kushner

A couple days later, I decided to take the kids and let them experience performing a random act of kindness...something on their level.

They each took a dollar from their own bank and we headed to the dollar store.

I explained to them that a little girl and little boy will be walking down the toy aisle, and wouldn't it be a wonderful surprise if the little girl and little boy found a dollar bill laying around?  Then they could pick it up and buy a toy for themselves!
Makayla and Mason loved that idea and they didn't ask even one time to buy a toy while they were searching for the perfect spot to lay down their dollar for the next kids.

When we got in the car, Kevin and I told them how proud of them we were!  We told them that they just did something very nice and that they were going to make a couple of little kids very happy!

(smile)

Random acts of kindness are a means by which we make a deliberate attempt to brighten another person's day by doing something thoughtful, nice, and caring for them.

A few days later, after taking the kids to the dollar store, I was taking Makayla to school.

On the way, she was telling me of a good deed she did the day before.  She said that when she went to Aldi with daddy, she had an extra quarter in her purse...so, she took that quarter and put it on the next cart in the cart line.  That way, when the next person came to go shopping, they wouldn't have to pay for a cart.  Bless her little heart.  I told her that I was so proud of her for being such a kind person and that it makes God so happy to see her doing good things like that.  

...So, when Makayla and Mason received that dollar bill last night, I couldn't help but think "what goes around comes around".  They've put their hearts out there to do a kind thing, and now the kindness was being returned to them.

(smile)

"Kindness is more than deeds.  It is an attitude, an expression, a look, a touch.  It is anything that lifts another person."

- C. Neil Strait

I know we spent a few dollars on these recent acts of kindness, but it's important to remember all of the things that we can do or say that cost nothing...but will still make someone's day.

We can 

-Compliment someone on something they did or how they look.  Mark Twain once said "I can live for two months on one good compliment.".

-Tell someone you love them.

-Give someone else that close parking spot.

-Pick up litter and garbage.

-When you see a mother with small children, return her shopping cart from the parking lot for her.  I can't begin to express how much I appreciate this when someone does this for me!
-Pick flowers for someone.

-Shovel snow for a neighbor.

-Make someone laugh.

-Smile.

-Say good morning to a stranger.

-Use your manners.

-Forgive someone a debt - and never bring it up again.

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted"
-Aesop

I am looking forward to working together as a family and performing random acts of kindness daily in 2014.
It'll be good for us.

(smile)