Change the World

 

My wife and I recently received a card in the snail mail.  I could tell from the return address who it was from and wondered why we were getting a card of any kind from her.  We hadn't given her any kind of gift.  Nor did we celebrate some anniversary or birthday recently.  When I opened the envelope, I saw that it was a thank you card.  That made me even more curious as to why we were receiving a thank you card from her.  The answer was in what she wrote on the inside.

“I'm trying to get caught up on thank you cards!  About eight years ago you two very kindly took me to lunch at Red Lobster.  I've thought about that lunch many, many times over the years and I truly cannot express how much your kindness meant to me.  I do not look back on that time of my life with much joy, but these moments of kindness kept me going when I was not sure I could.  So, thank you!  Sorry it took me eight years to express this.”

Well, I honestly don't remember taking this woman to the Red Lobster or anywhere else.  I will have to presume we did, as that is sometimes where we go on Sunday noon when it's just the two of us.  But it is the message that really struck me.

I do know that she was going through a hard time back then.  Her husband had filed for divorce, going off with another woman.  They had just both lost their jobs...that is they had been terminated...not that far back from the divorce situation, and things didn't look good, especially for a newly-single woman.  My wife and I could relate because although we weren't in a divorce situation, we both had lost jobs in the recent past from termination, although by the time of our lunch with her we had gained employment.  I presume we talked about that and encouraged her in whatever ways we could at the time.

I tell you this story in order to say this:  One never knows what an act of kindness...even one so mundane as buying lunch for someone else...may accomplish.  If you go back to her comments, you will notice that she had been thinking about that lunch quote “many, many times over the years.”  Unquote.  And then she says, “These moments of kindness kept me going when I was not sure I could.”

It is a privilege to know that something we did for someone apparently paid big dividends far beyond any discomfort or financial loss that may have occurred in doing what we did.  We don't always know when we have touched someone like this.  In fact, we most of the time DON'T know how what we do affects others and what kind of ripples down the road of time are created by what we do.  So it's nice to get a card like this that expresses some of that.

I don't know what your situation is in life.  Some of you may be able to eat at Red Lobster or some other nicer place without having to worry about whether you can afford it.  Others of you may barely have enough resources to squeeze by the month.  But you don't need to be well-to-do in order to be kind to someone who may be going through a difficult period in life.  A phone call, a card in the mail, some kind words when you are with them...or maybe some homemade cookies, bread, or other goodies...the instrument of the kindness isn't important.  What IS important is that you cared enough to do whatever it is you've done.  You were concerned enough that you spent time and energy on their behalf.  You thought of them.  You prayed for them.  You encouraged them.  You helped bear their burden.  You validated their humanity and the inherent dignity and respect that goes with that humanity.  You were a friend when they needed one.

It isn't rocket science to figure out what you might be able to do and who may need what you can do.  Find someone in the next 7 days that you could encourage or build up.  Find someone who could use a friend.  Find someone who needs someone to share a burden.  And then step up in kindness toward that person.  You may never know how much you will change the world with your actions.