A Special Gift is Kindness

Going along with Gratitude K for the day,

I thought I'd start a

Kindness Tag / spam / pass it on / gift.

I'm not tagging just a few names - only everyone who happens to read my blog. Come on ~ it will be fun! Let's get this kindness ball rollin' rollin' rollin'.

So here are the guidelines:
List AT LEAST 3 kindnesses that someone has done for you lately.

Simple Enough!



1. Kindness from a friend from afar: About a month ago I received a surprise package from my friend. Included was a card with this message (the Time Out for Women theme)

She also included a book that I really wanted to read. How thoughtful is that! It certainly made that week more joyful. She reminded me how fun receiving snail mail is - I ought to do that more for others.

2. Kindness from a neighbor: A few weeks ago a gal in the ward whom I don't know very well called. She wondered if she could take Hannah to the early morning field trip so I wouldn't have to load all the kids in the car. It happened that Hannah wasn't going on the field trip on that day, but I thought she was so thoughtful to think of us - when she has 3 or 4 little ones to load in the car too. She reminded me that others enjoy when you think of them and follow through on that thought.

3. Ongoing Kindness: Sometimes I just have a need to talk things out. Being with and talking with the tots all day doesn't always fulfill that need. There are several women (and Jimmy) in my life who are kind and listen to all my ramblings/emails even when my talking long passes the amount of time/patience they have for me. From these people, I am reminded how nice it feels to have someone listen and care. I need to take time to listen more - especially with my own children.

And to end the tag:

A Challenge ~ do at least 3 kind things for someone else in the next week.

So snag the image, get your mind thinking of kind things people have done, and tag - you're it!  You don't have to make it long and drawn out like mine. :)  Short and sweet is always good!  Spread the spam. Be a kindness spammer!

(p.s.  I've been reading a book called A Heart Like His ~ the very book my friend from afar sent ~ and it talks about making room in your heart to feel the Love of God.  She talks about the experiment they had to open their heart to the Love of God so they could help others feel that Love.

That experiment didn't mean that they had to do a bazillion acts of service like taking treats the entire neighborhood.  It was merely to open your heart and be aware of others so you could serve in simple ways.

For example, for me ~ today ~ this would mean being patient and loving to my rugrat neighbors who always want to play at our house.  I think about their need to feel love and gentleness and kindness and so I try.  It's hard (believe me ~ it's hard), but I'm trying to open my heart so that it will be softer.

Anyhoo...  the idea of opening your heart to help yourself and others feel the Love of the Lord is an interesting one to me lately.  I don't know why that idea seems new.  But I just didn't think of it that way.  The hearts of the world seem to be hardening and this experiment is a good one to create a soft heart.

long p.s. ~ sooooo just ignore my ramblings)