77. Perform a Random Act of Kindness

Unfortunately, too often we hear of the bad things that take place in our world today. However, there are many nice things that happen every day due to someone choosing to love his or her neighbor. Your family, too, can join in performing a “random” act of kindness. Some suggestions:

•  Put a shopping cart back for a mother. If you see a mother of young children unloading her cart in the parking lot of the grocery store, ask her if you could put her cart away when she is finished.

•  Help someone carry out his or her groceries. Whereas it once was commonplace, in today’s society many grocery stores don’t have “bag boys” to assist people with their groceries. If you see an elderly person, someone who’s disabled, or a mother with several children, offer to help carry his or her groceries to the car. It’s a guarantee you’ll be appreciated.

•  Help someone who has “lost his or her load.” One time when I was attempting to maneuver a cart completely full of groceries and children (and carrying two bags of groceries besides pushing the overloaded cart), I lost a watermelon. As I watched the oblong fruit roll down the sidewalk in front of me, I wondered how I would be able to retrieve it. Fortunately, a kind gentleman picked it up and placed it safely back onto my crowded cart. If you see someone who has lost a grocery item or two, offer to retrieve it for him or her.

•  Hold the door open for someone, and let him or her go first.

•  Give someone else the close parking spot. How many times have you witnessed the scenario of two vehicles racing to a good parking spot? Why not let the other person have it? A little walk and a little fresh air are good for you!

•  Place jars at businesses throughout town to raise money for people suffering from illnesses.

•  Let someone in front of you in traffic, or let him or her go first at a four-way stop.

•  If you have long hair and are planning to cut it, why not consider Locks of Love and donate your no-longer-needed hair to help a child who is suffering from long-term medical hair loss?²⁸

•  Send an anonymous donation. Check the newspapers for someone who was recently diagnosed with a serious medical condition, or for a family who recently lost their home to a fire. For someone with a medical illness and rising medical bills, financial assistance is sure to be a blessing. Such contributions are usually sent in care of a bank and are forwarded, to be used directly for the stated need.

•  Be a grocery store gift-giver. Next time you are in the grocery store, think of the person behind you. What a nice surprise for the person when he or she approaches the grocery check-out counter and learns that someone has already paid for his or her groceries! This can be easily done by asking the cashier to add the groceries of the person behind you onto your tab. There’s something especially heartwarming about doing something nice for someone you don’t even know.

Include your own ideas for random acts of kindness.

Up for Discussion

What items did you and your family undertake this week for this activity? How do you believe it made a difference, no matter how small?

Read the story about the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37. Discuss how the Samaritan was performing a random act of kindness. It could have been anyone who traveled along the road from Jerusalem to Jericho on that day. There could have been additional people who acted toward the wounded man as did the priest and the Levite. Instead, it was a common man, a Samaritan, who came upon an injured man who had been beaten and robbed. The Samaritan, who may have been more likely than the others to ignore the injured man, instead assisted him. He provided an act of compassion that probably saved the man’s life. Ponder why we should all try to be as the Samaritan was—eager to assist those in need no matter how different from us they may be.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

—Eph. 4:32