What a powerful protector Kindness is for all of us.  Every time I tap into this Fruit of the Spirit either by doing or receiving, I feel strong, sure and safe.  Wonderful stuff, and the bonus is how the experience of Kindness continues to protect us long after the act of Kindness has come and gone.

Here a few examples in my recent past where I encountered the power of Kindness as it transcended the moment in which it happened:

• My best friend recently helped an elderly lady wrestle a wheelchair out of  her car trunk at a restaurant.  He doesn’t need to be captured on social media doing a kind thing – he is just that way.  It turns out this lady still makes every effort to get her failing spouse to the coffee date he has always kept with his buddies.  As I am watching that unfold, and then hearing him tell her story afterwards, I realized that would have been my Mum.  🙂
• Captain Mike on the dive boat in Jamaica told me he completely understood why I no longer have the mental ability to scuba dive………..I shared with him a few frightening experiences and he simply said, “Those experiences go down there with you every time.  It’s OK to stay up here in the free air.”  Picture a small Jamaican smile accompanied by a penetrating look that says he understands.
• The delightful lady at my friend’s community garden that grows only flowers – spectacular, astounding, gorgeous, ridiculously awesome flowers!  Well, one of her collections are Dahlias………..my Mum grew Dahlias and she used to walk me around the outside of our house to look at them.  As this fascinating lady talked that day I got the sense that she completely got it how much it meant to me to see those Dahlias – and how linked I immediately felt with both her and the memory of my Mum.  Soon we were talking about growing up in the northeastern US, me in Maine and her in New Hampshire!
• My daughter sent me a beautiful quote just when I needed it most the other day:  “Of course we can go to God with even our smallest problems, for to God, all our problems are small.”
• A friend sent me prints of two recent photographs she had taken of my husband and me, just because they were great photos and she thought I should have them.  How special it was to open the mail that day.  I have been thinking since I got them that I want to update the photos around my home again.
• I have been trying to keep track of all the kindness I have received just this month – it became impossible to do, as one of my goals with this blog is not to write extremely long posts!  How blessed I am.  How blessed.

One thing I am very certain of, Kindness transcends the moment in which it occurs, and has the power to radically change both that moment, the next few moments, and perhaps even a life.  What a remarkable thing.

What act of kindness have you received or bestowed on someone recently?  I would love to hear your story.  🙂

Here is one of the kindest notions ever offered in a song.  While I am the regular recipient of Kindness in my life, my most memorable kindnesses come from my friends and family when my children were very small.  This song takes me back there instantly.

My Mum used to encourage me in the same way this song encourages.  “The time will fly by so fast you just won’t believe it”, she often said.  She would have loved this song, and I am sure she would have cried when she listened to it just like I do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHrNwD4V1Y4