As Christians, we are encouraged to ‘give rather than to receive’. Many of us follow those words of encouragement and give to charity or offer our services to those organizations serving the less privileged in our communities.
These are wonderful ways to give thanks for the blessings the Lord our God has bestowed upon us. By this humble act of sharing, we show our gratitude to the Lord and fulfill His dictum to help the poor and those in need. I encourage you to give from your heart wherever and whenever possible.
Though these acts of charity are encouraged, at times we tend to forget about those that may not be in need of charity, but are in need of our humanity, our time, our conversation, our thoughts, our care and our love. At times a simple smile can mean the difference between a terrible day and perhaps a bearable one or even better. At times it can be the difference between life and death.
I like to go to my local coffee shop and after paying for my coffee and sweets I ask the clerk to charge me for the order of the third car waiting at the drive-through. I always ask the clerk to tell the driver to ‘pay it forward’. I also ask the clerk not to let the driver know who paid for the purchase. Besides the personal pleasure it gives me to know that I put a smile on someone’s face, it is my hope that in fact that driver will ‘pay it forward’ and pass on a random act of kindness to someone else. I have taken this a step further. At times I may be in a local eatery and will randomly pick a table and anonymously pay for their meal, asking the server to let the diners know to ‘pay it forward.’
After every random act of kindness I pray to the Lord asking Him to open that individual’s heart and soul, to help that person however He sees fit and to help that person to pass on that random act of kindness.
Some may think that I am wasting my money and my time. I would rather look at it as an investment in humanity. Like any investment, some will give you a return and others will not. Even if I have only made one person’s day, then that is one more person who perhaps will pass on a random act of kindness to another soul in need. My ultimate purpose is the hope that the one receiving my random act of kindness will reflect that, “…it is not always about money.”
I would like them to reflect that kindness comes in many forms and that there are still unselfish people who are willing to give with no hope of ever receiving the ‘material-value’ back in kind. My hope is that they will look at the ‘bigger picture’ of charity in general.
By creating opportunities for random acts of kindness, we as Christians fulfill the Lord’s will for us to give to our fellow man. If each one of us would involve ourselves in one random act of kindness per day, that would mean that each of us would touch the lives of at least 365 people over the year. Imagine what that number looks like over a lifetime!
In a world where many are not willing to give but only to receive, where many have lost faith in humanity and our ability or willingness to be kind to others for its own sake, a simple random act of kindness will hopefully rekindle that individual’s hope in humanity and in turn use that random act of kindness as a catalyst for even greater acts of kindness. Sometimes great things come from small acts.
I hope that you will consider offering daily random acts of kindness in your own communities. Be creative, thoughtful , humble and prayerful. A random act of kindness is currency from the soul.
Copyright © 2013, Luciano Corbo
Luciano Corbo
Luciano Corbo holds a Master of Arts - Integrated Studies from Athabasca University. His major interests are Culture, Work, Organizations and Leadership, within a context of Catholic Social Teaching Principles. He writes from Canada.
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