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Friday, December 21, 2012

Acts of Kindness


My daughter called a few minutes ago and I truly was just thinking of her when the phone rang.  Through her shaky voice and tears, she told me how she assisted one of the Case Workers at her office (she works for our local Council on Aging) in giving some can goods and other staples to a woman.  This woman is pregnant and is a little older than the usual age for pregnancy.  They also gave a stuffed teddy bear to her for her baby.  She was so grateful, could not thank them enough and so happy to have something for the baby.

This is my daughter's first Christmas at this job and the first time she has been this close to assisting others.  She has seen first hand what it means to truly give of yourself to people that find themselves in need.  When she was able to leave the Case Worker, she went in to her office and began to cry, overwhelmed by emotion.  The Case Worker found her a few minutes later, gave her a hug and said thank you for reminding me why I do this job and what Christmas is supposed to be about.  This made her cry more.  Of course she calls me and I began to cry with her.  We get so busy with all of our preparations for the Holidays its so very easy to forget that the greatest gift we can give to people is ourselves.

I think we all have "aha" moments in our lives, sometimes a lot of them.  Today was one of those "aha" moments for my daughter.  I know this isn't a great story that will go viral, but in it's own way, it is a great story for my baby and for me.  This might be the thing that will change her life as well as some of you that may read it.  It only takes one tiny little pebble to ripple the waters of our lives.  We never know how many lives we touch each day by any one random act of kindness or even just a smile and hello to a stranger or someone you see in a store.

As I'm headed in to my little kitchen to bake my first batch of cookies, I'm going to be dwelling on this today.  This little story really does make me think about this Christmas season in a whole new light.

Do what is within your power to help others and be kind above all else.  Happy Christmas.  See you in the funny papers.

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