Pay it forward......stand for kindness.....what it's all about.

I smiled at her silliness as I sat across from my sweet 12 year old, Olivia, as we discussed how we wanted to participate in Global Pay It Forward Day.  We knew for sure we wanted to do random acts of kindness all weekend in anticipation of Global Sunday. She smiled as the waitress set our desserts in front of us and I knew the waitress would be the first recipient of our kindness.  Ready to conquer the weekend we headed for home with a plan to bless as many people as we could and hope for a ripple effect.

I had the opportunity to meet Coach Dar at our O2 convention  in 2015 she is an amazing soul and an inspiration to all who know her.  She is a huge proponent of the Stand For Kindness, Pay It Forward movement.  We are always excited to participate, but this year was a little different.


As we prepared for church today, it was pretty normal for a Sunday morning except for the red heart on the palm of my hand.  I drew it on the drive to church,  already pretty excited with some of the goodness we had shared that weekend.  As we rehearsed the worship set, I had a feeling of gratefulness for how good God is and the reminders of that goodness I had seen even that morning.  As the service began, my heart was so full, and worship was exactly what I wanted to be doing.  As the music ended, I made my way to the balcony to join my family.  I sat down next to my sweet girl and we listened as Pastor began his message.  It wasn't long into the sermon, being salt and light, before Olivia whispered to me "this is the perfect scripture for pay it forward day."  I smiled and agreed.  It was soon time to sing the final song so I headed back downstairs.  I stood in the foyer while Pastor was finishing his message, when she walked in the front glass doors.  She comes every week.  She rarely comes into the sanctuary, she is usually dirty, she comes for the coffee, and a handout.  She is rarely kind, more often rude or crass.  She is not my favorite person and I have very little patience for her.  I saw her coming up the walk long before she got to the door.  She walked in singing a melody of some sort quite proud of the "trill" and greeted me as though I had been waiting for her to arrive.  She was dirtier than usual and smelled of urine so badly the smell filled the foyer.  As I stood there watching her settle her large bag of "stuff", she turned to me and I knew before she even spoke it would not be nice.  She looked at me from head to toe and then informed me I had holes in my jeans, "poor thing", she said as if someone else was in the room.  She sarcastically asked if I had gotten the holes from "praying too much", then remarked that I would have had to be in a very strange position to achieve the holes on my thighs.  My patience was thinning as her voice grew louder.  The smell was overwhelming and I wished she she would just leave.  It was at that moment that the red heart on my palm felt as if it were burning a hole in my hand.  God grabbed a hold of my heart in that moment and reminded me that He loved her......as much as He loved me.  That He died for her.  Humbled, I turned away from her and prayed God would give me a bit of patience. I don't know her story.  I don't know all of her circumstances.  I don't know all her need.  But I do know she needs Jesus.

As I headed back into the sanctuary for the final song, I saw she too was coming inside and finding a seat by one of our regular greeters.  As the music began and we sang the closing song, she did not stay and I watched her make her way outside and down the sidewalk.  Not much had changed for her, today the change was in me.  I know future dealings with her will not be easy, but I will try harder to help her in a way that will really help.  

Random acts of kindness are nice.  We feel good when we do kind things, but what we need to remember is that we are the salt and light in the world.  We are to shine and show His love in all we do.  So often we judge too quickly before thinking about what a persons circumstances are or what they are going through.  What we do and how we act makes a difference,  people are watching, my children are watching.   I want my children to love more and judge less. I want them to stand for what is right and good and kind.  I want them to be strong in their faith but not bullies about their beliefs.  I want them to make a real difference in this world.  And that all starts with me.  I'm the one they are watching, the one they are looking to to show them the way. Let's spread His light, not just on one day, but everyday.