She thanked me, looking at me kind of in amazement, like she’d never seen anyone return a purse before. When she got back over to her friend, she exclaimed loud enough for us to hear: “Those people are awesome!”
Now I don’t know about you, but it’s not all the time that people tell me that I am awesome. And maybe awesome isn’t the word, maybe it was just a simple, kind gesture. All I know is that it was no trouble at all, it only took a minute, but it may have helped two impressionable young women feel that the world is a place where people can be trusted, which maybe hadn’t previously been their experience.
We’ve all helped someone else with a random act of kindness. And we’ve all been the recipients of kindness and help from others. It’s a mutual process of helping and being helped. It may be somewhat easy and effortless at times, or it may require some real work to see the worth of another person and make an investment in him/her. Periodically we might ask ourselves these kinds of questions:
Who connected with me at different points in my life? With whom can I connect?
Who touched my life in a positive way? Who can I touch in a positive way?
Who challenged and inspired me? Who can I challenge and inspire?
Who planted words of affirmation and encouragement in me? In whom can I plant words of affirmation and encouragement?
Who saw something special in me? In whom can I see something special?
Who believed in me? In whom can I believe?
Who helped raise me to a new level? Who can I help raise to a new level?
I thought I might end with some statement like, “Okay, now, everybody, let’s get out there and be awesome!” But that’s a bit rah-rah for me, and probably for you, too. So I think I’ll just simply remind us of what we already know we should do: Be kind. Be helpful. Be encouraging. Be gracious. Be merciful. Be loving. Be a child of God among others made in the image of God.
Grace and Hope to you,
Pastor Duane
