RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: MATTHEW 7:12

Jesus speaking - "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

Sometimes I have to wait for an idea to come and other times it is as if ideas are flying around waiting for my mind to open. That is where I am right now. Do I write about Friendly Competition? The Early Morning Drive? Change? Patience?

So many neat things have happened lately. Out of the ordinary things? No. Just times when the ordinary turned into God saying, "Mary, look. I am right here. Do you see me?"

I have been working on our Sunday School Class trying to get them to see God in normal day-to-day activities and in unexpected places. Well, last week. Last Thursday to be exact. God was on the South Shore Train that runs between South Bend, Indiana and Chicago.

Our daughter, son-in-law, their four boys and I boarded the South Shore headed to Chicago. Our timing was perfect. We arrived in Chicago, walked two blocks to the Museum of Science and Industry and walked in the doors about 10 minutes after they opened.

We had a great day. I will admit my feet did not want to keep up with the flying feet of children, but I made it. We saw old planes and space shuttles. We saw old inventions and future ideas. Some toured a submarine. Two went down into a coalmine. We were here. We were there. Sometimes we were not sure where we were. But like all good things. This day came to an end and we had to catch the train back.

The train to Chicago had many open seats. The same was not true for the train home. When this very tired grandmother, less tired mother and father, three a-little-bit-tired boys and an extremely-exhausted-ready-for-a-nap four year old entered the train, there were no seats. Jon kept Noah. (They stood and Jon said Noah talked the whole way home.)

Terri and I took the other three boys and went to look for seats. This is where the random acts of kindness began.

One look would tell you that we were not your day-to-day train traveler. The busy conductor took one look at our daughter sitting on the floor with a sleepy boy and said, "I will find you seats. People just make it look like the seats are full so no one sits by them." She did find us seats, but they were not together.

Random act of kindness number two. Two businessmen, who were using four seats, took one look at these two women with three children and said, "Take our seats. We will stand." Bless their hearts. Terri and Joshua sat on one side of the aisle. I sat on the other side with Matthew and very-quickly-asleep Timothy.

But wait. The acts of kindness were not over. As we neared South Bend, the conductor informed us that we had to move to the front two cars. Picture two women trying to get three children back through six train cars with two doors at each end of the car. And those doors are awkward to open. Terri took the lead. Random act of kindness number three. A very nice young man - probably 18 - 22 - stepped up behind me and said, "Let me get the back doors for you."

Now, you could chalk this up to people just being nice. I prefer to picture God saying, "Mary, look. I am right here. Do you see me?"

QUESTIONS OF THE DAY

As you go through your normal day-to-day activities, do you see God? Do you see Him in the face of the person that opens the doors? Or in the actions of someone who gives up their seat? Or in the assistance of a busy stranger. Have other people seen God in you?

Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.

LET US PRAY

Yes God, I see you. You are all around me. I see you in eyes that sparkle. I hear you in laughter. I feel you in a hug. Yes, God, I see you. Thank you for the person that helps me when they think they are only doing their job. Thank you for the person that sees when I am tired and offers me a place to rest. Thank you for the person that opens doors, so I can easily enter. Today I thank you for … Amen