The motion detector kept going off in the middle of the night. Who or what would be in the backyard in the pitch dark? My beloved went to the back door but couldn’t see anything. He returned to bed.
Minutes later, the alarm went off again. He went to see what had caused the commotion. Once more, he came back with no answer. This pattern continued throughout the night.
The next morning, he found the culprit: a small spider spinning a web on the motion detector. Little things can make a big impact.
Grace grew up on the other side of the state. When she was in third grade, a group of dental professionals came to her school. Only a few special students were called to be seen by them on their dental van and she was one of them. It was exciting and wonderful. (She found out years later that the special kids who got to be on the dental van were actually the poor kids.)
Because their care for her was so kind, she decided right then and there that she wanted to be a dentist when she grew up.
Grace is all grown up now – an expanded duties dental assistant studying to be a dental hygienist. She may still go on to become a dentist. I’m thrilled to say we work together. I see her paying the kindness forward with every patient she sees. It was all because of the kindness of the dental people who came to school. Little things—like being kind and caring to a third grader growing up in a hard spot—can make a big impact.
I write and talk often about a lady in Jerry Bottom who was so sweet to me and my sister one Halloween over 50 years ago. She acted like we were so important and called us by name. It brings tears to my eyes every single time I think of it. Life was hard at our house, but she didn’t know it. She was just being extra kind to two young girls on a Trick-or-treat night. It didn’t cost her a thing, but it made a lasting impression.
I asked my beloved if anyone had been extra kind to him when he was growing up. He named one after another who blessed him as a kid on Big Creek. Not with money or gifts, but with kindness.
In One at a Time, Kyle Idleman suggests that the way to reach the masses with Jesus is one at a time. That’s the one you encounter today, tomorrow or this week—seeing those who are unseen, the unreached, the different from us. That’s what Jesus did. He was always followed by a crowd but always took time for the “one.” Mother Teresa, the poster girl for kindness, once said, “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.”
Kindness and love go hand in hand. Just before Jesus was crucified, He told His disciples that everyone would know His followers if we love others (John 13:35). Those are our marching orders. We are all on mission, loving and pointing people to Jesus. Who will we see or come in contact with today that needs some love and kindness? Little things can make a big impact.
“Small things done with great love will change the world,” again from Mother Teresa. Come on. Let’s go change the world!