Kindness

I hate driving.  I'm a GREAT driver, it's the driving with all the crazy people that I don't care for. :)  But I've thought of a way to make the world a better, kinder place.  Use turn signals.  Seriously.  Isn't it a traffic law/rule that you must use turn signals?  I'll admit, I don't always use them, especially when switching lanes on the interstate & no one else is around. But when someone is right behind you & you know you are going to turn, is it really so hard to flick that switch & give some notice to the other drivers as to what you intend to do?  One simple act & the world could be a kinder place.  So make someone else's day & use your turn signals.


On another kindness note, we decided to do 25 Random Acts of Christmas Kindness in the days leading up to Christmas.  We made up cute little tags that said "You've been RACK'd" to leave with the acts of kindness.   It was fun, but by about the 8th day, I was thinking--this is is more Planned than Random.  But the tags wouldn't have been nearly as cute if they had said "You've been PACK'd"...  So I confess, we didn't do an act everyday. But the ones we did do were SO FUN!  The Salvation Army bell ringer enjoyed his candy bar.  The Kroger cashier chased down Landon to give him a hug.  It's fun to think about who may have found the candy canes on the ATMs or the coins on the vending machines.   The fun days were the ones that were more random acts than planned.   So while the idea was nice, I'm sure we won't try to do 25 acts crammed into 25 days next year.  We will just look for ways to do acts of kindness throughout the year, randomly.  I encourage you to do the same.

Love

I was going to write this earlier but I got caught up in watching a re-run of Ghost Whisperer.  I didn't watch this show when it was originally on the air.  Now I'm caught up somewhere in Season 4 where her husband dies but then all the sudden is someone else.  Strange.  But the episode today actually included something I've thought about writing about the past few days. Love.


This week our church family lost a dear member.  Actually, he's not lost at all, we know exactly where he is.  Last night was his Life Celebration at church.  It probably should have been called a Love Celebration.  It was like a giant family reunion!  Many people spoke of the Love they had for Papa Jim.  But more importantly, we heard about how Papa LOVED all of us.  Truly loved & cared for so many.   Papa Loved Jesus (and Jesus is Love, right??). Papa Loved his family.  Papa Loved his church and everyone in it.


I read and article today about a mother in Connecticut whose 3 daughters & parents were killed in a fire on Christmas Day.  At their funeral she said this:
"In this, in all this incomprehensible loss and chaos, all I can hang on to is that love is everything. And God, as I choose to call my higher power, is love. And so, God is love and God is everything."

Even in all her grief & pain, she spoke of the love she has for her girls & the love they showed others. AND her love & trust in God.


Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to make this about death. Or about remembering those we've lost.  I'm talking about LOVE.  Love those around you. Love those in your life. Love those who will come into your life. Love those who are not easy to love.  
Easier said than done right?  But if each of us could love just one other person as much as Papa loved all of us, this world would be a much better place.  


So in this new year...Choose to Love, now.  
As God Loves us, Love others.  Even when it's hard.