I recently read about the concept of pay it forward as a
cycle of grace and gratitude.
I loved the idea of that. It takes it out of the context of one human passing along something nice to keep it going…and puts it into the context of grace, the receiving of unexpected good, a sign that God is with us, and our gratitude for experiencing it.
Whether we know it or not, it is God who sparks all kindness, who makes us aware of a need or just gives us the desire to express kindness when we don’t know there is a particular reason.
Many years ago, when I was a freshman in a local Penn State branch campus, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and scheduled for a mastectomy.
I attended an 8 AM class on the day of her surgery. One of my classmates was a friend of mine, my best friend’s husband. He was a sophomore and already set in his groups of friends. Most mornings we just said hi to each other as he crossed the room to join his friends.
On that morning, he sat next to me and stayed there during the whole class. He never once mentioned my mom; he just sat with me. Almost 30 years later, that still touches me as such a sweet act of kindness - the just BEING there beside me.
And by the way - Mom was fine, and is still with us today! [from Kind Words is a free weekly e-mail distributed by Partners In Kindness. Archives of messages may be found here.]
Being there for someone, being present, walking alongside, is often one of the better ways of showing kindness to someone who is struggling. If we’ve ever been the recipient, we know how much it means. I had my share of nay-sayers when I was miscarrying, but I also had shining moments of friends who walked alongside. It made all the difference in the world.
Human touch is another one. The youtube hug campaign is a way of passing on kindnesses too.
Karin
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