Random Acts of Kindness

A while ago in our family devotions, we read about Jesus washing the disciples feet. The writer talked about kindness. A statement that stood out was that "kindness has very little to do with the person you're being kind to and everything to do with what you are like." I hadn't really thought of that before. I had always thought to be kind was to honor the other person, which I guess it is, but a bigger picture would be that it shows what your character is like.
When I look back I remember many times where acts of kindness were shown to me. I think of people who have shown the beauty of their character in acts of kindness. Some I know and some I don't. Of course there are too many to list but I will give a few examples.

There was the time I stood in line at the grocery store and ran into a lady that I worked with. I was mentally calculating how many items I would have to give back because I only had 25$ to spend but I didn't say anything to her. We chatted about various things while we waited. When I came to the cash register, she said to me "Let me pay for this". How did she know that I was struggling to put food on the table?
I have walked into work to see flowers on my desk from my boss who knows that I am going through something hard in my personal life. An act of kindness just to say she cared.
I have had messages on my answering machine to tell me that supper would be provided for us that night - taking a load off my shoulders.
There have been times where when my husband was in school, and we REALLY had no money, the famous person called "anonymous" left Christmas presents on our back step.
One of the most gratifying things as a mom is to see your kids exercising kindness. I observe this in my family members, but here is a very recent example.

I was a little confused today, when my #1 son got out of the vehicle, without stopping for his backpack. Instead he ran over to help a girl pick up her papers which had flown out of her binder and were scattering all around. Then he came back to the vehicle and got his stuff. Other people had seen it happen, but he was the only one who took action. It warmed my heart to see him being kind in his every day life.

Kindness is an antidote to pain. Applying kindness to someone's life is like applying salve to wounds, some too deep to express.