Random Acts
Have you given or received a random act of kindness? If so, what memories do you have of it?
No matter your assessment, let me assure you that these acts reach further and have more influence than the act itself.
I have a memory from my Junior year of High School. I was never particularly good at or very interested in sports of any kind. So, in P.E. I was that kid no one wanted on their team. One day I was on a basketball court pretty much trying to stay out of everyone’s way. Every time I did get the ball, the other kids would block my shot because I was the second shortest person in my class. Or they would steal the ball as I performed my very own clumsy style of dribbling. Well, as luck would have it, on this particular day, the ball was passed to me. Then a kid, Ralph, shouted, "Let him shoot." To my amazement, everyone stopped! No one tried to steal the ball or block my shot. In that split second I looked at Ralph, turned to the basket and shot! The ball went in - swoosh!! (I thought they call that an “air ball,” but turns out an air ball is when you totally miss the shot. Shows what I know!)
In those days it was rare for anyone from outside my little circle of friends to treat me with any respect at all. I remember Ralph’s act of kindness to this day. When most of my peers would make fun or ridicule me for my lack of prowess, he stopped and gave me that moment to excel. Once it happened, there was not a “Rudy” (from the 1993 movie) moment when everyone threw me on their shoulders and carried me off the court in celebration. We just continued to play. Yet here I am forty-six years after the fact, still remembering that random act of kindness. It was truly unexpected, so needed, and still has a profound effect on my life.
When you find yourself with an opportunity to allow someone to succeed rather than pointing out their shortcomings, do it.
· The elderly person in front of you at the grocery store has to start putting things back because they don’t have enough money.
· You see someone at a restaurant and that little voice says, ‘buy their dinner.’
Do it. You will be remembered and appreciated even if there is no celebration at the moment. It makes me think of some parables Jesus told…
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed planted in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but it becomes the largest of garden plants; it grows into a tree, and birds come and make nests in its branches.” (Matthew 13:30-32)
“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted!...” (Matthew 13:3-8)