Now That's Good News! - Random Acts of Kindness

Anyone that knows me well knows that I am a overall positive person.  I'm the person who will always be looking for the silver lining around the cloud, the lesson in the trial, and the joy coming after midnight.  Over the last month it just seemed I was bombarded with bad news.  There was the shooting in Newton, CT, continual talks of the impeding fiscal cliff, there was a stabbing of 20 children overseas, and then a Christmas Eve fire in NY that turned out to be an ambush where 3 firemen were killed.  I was fighting hard to keep my holiday spirit.  Then one of my friends, Nakisha told me after being so heavy with the news of the Connecticut shootings that she just had to perform some random act of kindness to bring some light back in the atmosphere & she did!  She talked about how it made her feel so good to be a blessing to someone.

Then a day or so later another one of my friends, Tita shared how she & her family were going to perform a random act of kindness from December 22nd, her daughter's birthday until January 1st.    The first thing they did was anonymously pay for someone's dinner in the restaurant where they celebrated her daughter's birthday.  She let her daughter pick the family they were going to bless.  What a wonderful way to show her daughter that it's more blessed to give than to receive!  Some of the other random acts of kindness were taping a gas card to a gas pump with a note, put red poinsettias in the empty flower pots on her neighbors porch with a note, leaving money purposely in the ATM slot, and paying for the car behind hers Starbucks coffee.  To quote her Facebook status she said,  "This was a great experience for me and I was reminded that being kind is priceless, giving is more rewarding that receiving, and no matter how comfortable I get I must never forget how life used to be and how it can completely change in the blink of an eye.  Thank you Jesus!"  And to quote her Random Act #6:  Left a gift card in the windshield of a random car at church today!  I remember when I used to pray to GOD to help me find money to put gas in my car until my next paycheck.  Lord, I will never forget!"

Following her story & Nakisha's on Facebook just made me smile and reminded me of two things:  I have surrounded myself with some awesome friends who demonstrate sacrificial love daily and there really are great people in this world who never get recognized.  Well ladies, I tip my hat to you today for your giving.  I pray that God returns to you 1000 fold what you have given to others.  And guess what?  I performed my own random act of kindness the other day and I must admit as I drove off I felt pretty good on the inside.  Thank you for being an inspiration.

At least twice a month, I plan to share some GOOD news that I've heard so that we can all continue to be inspired and remember in the madness of the negativity that popular media shares, there are those out there who silently do good things to impact the lives of others.  So whether big or small, if it touches my heart and makes me smile, I'll share it here and hope to make you smile as well!