Part 26 - A Kindness In Need Is A Kindness Indeed

     Welcome everybody to Part 26 of The Rendering! This will be the 2nd post for this weekend.  Technically, the first post today was supposed to be last week's entry but it was delayed due to "technical" issues and taxes.  I have resolved all of those issues and I am now on fire for writing this week's actual post so...HERE WE GO! 

     With that being said please allow me to hit you all up front with the numbers portion of the post...

     There it is, the back on track weigh in.  Yes, sadly I am only down 3 lbs. but they are 3 lbs. closer to my goal!  Like I said before, don't punish yourself for one day, just get back on track and that is just what I am doing.  I must admit however, the last few months have been a little daunting to me.  There have been parties, cookies, and candies all laid out before me like a mine field.  Oh yeah, there was eggnog too!  Oh sweet, sweet eggnog how you tested me!  A test that I stumbled a bit with and I am now paying for with a bit of collateral damage but I will soldier on!

          So now that we've put that messy business behind us I would like to speak about a much over-looked but simple act, kindness.

      To me that statement says it all.  No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.  If this is true, why is it that we, and I mean all of us as people, why do we pass up so many opportunities to share a simple kindness.  In my opinion, it is because we take for granted that perhaps either somebody else will do it or it doesn't matter.  Now don't get me wrong, for the most part, we do this unintentionally.  Imagine if you can, how much different and better our world would be if we consciously performed more simple acts of kindness.

     Everyday we walk about, going through the busy hustle and bustle of our daily lives while there are people in need, people whose stories we do not know, all around us.  I myself am guilty of just passing by and not taking notice of those in need of a simple kindness.  I am not trying to say that we must spend all of our time trying to solve every single problem we see but you never know how you may change a person's life by showing some simple kindness.  As I reflect upon my own life I have moments that stand out glaringly, moments where somebody paid me a simple kindness.  Moments that I feel have changed me or influenced me in life.  I would like to share a few of those moments with you now.

     One such moment that stands out to me is from many, many years ago.  Twenty-four years to be more precise.  I was in eighth grade and as I have mentioned many times before, I was a bit introverted in my youth.  I am not sure how other schools worked but the school that I attended had an eighth grade dance around the end of the year.  I would not have normally attended such a thing because it was just not my "scene".  Heck, I am not even sure I had a "scene" then or now for that matter.  Anyway, I had been convinced to attend so I did.  I dressed relatively nicely and went against my better judgment.  When I got to the dance, as was usual, I had several of my classmates staring and making comments.  This was the very same reason I avoided these types of functions to begin with.  The place was beautiful and, even better for me, dimly lit.  The music was loud and I figured that I would be able to disappear into the shadows and hang out until it was time to leave back to the safety of my home.  A short time passed and it was working!  I had found a place where my predator-like classmates couldn't or didn't rather take much notice of me.  Now, I can't say that I was having a very good time but I was surviving, then it happened.  "She" came over to me.  You may ask "she"?  So I will say this, there weren't many of the girls who paid much attention to me but there was one girl that I shared several classes with who always just treated me very well and it was this girl that came up to me at my eighth grade dance.  She had found me sitting in the shadows just trying to serve my time and she forced me to go out and dance with her.  She was bound and determined to force me to enjoy myself and it worked.  I actually enjoyed myself very much the rest of that dance and I didn't let anybody steal that from me.  That was a simple act of kindness that changed a horribly uncomfortable and disastrous night into a great memory that, to this very day, has endured in my heart.  That young lady will always be a very special person to me even though we rarely get to talk much anymore.

     That was just one example of how a simple act of kindness changed my life.  Kindness breeds kindness at times as well.

     Let's fast forward a bit now.  We are now in the very early part of the 2000's but I don't remember what year exactly.  Really, who cares what year exactly but I digress.  I was working for a company called Nationwide Credit Inc. or NCI for short.  I was a unit manager there and even though I made good money I had run into some financial difficulties that I wasn't really sure how I was going to get out from under.  Now, as it was, I didn't say anything about my money problems but just kept trudging along.  One day, while on my lunch, one of my fellow unit managers came to me and asked if he could talk to me.  He pulled me aside and told me a story of how somebody had come to him years before and given him some cash because he had been on that person's heart.  They told him that the cash was a gift and did not need to be repaid.  There were no strings attached to this gift with the exception of one.  Somewhere down the road when he was able, there would come a time that his heart would be heavy with the name of somebody in need.  When this happened, they asked him to pay forward the gift.  This is what my friend was doing when he pulled me aside.  He told me that he didn't know what the problems were but I had been on his heart and that this money he had was now mine but with the same stipulations.  He could not have known then but the amount he gave me was just what I needed and I have always been grateful to him for his kindness.  I have since been able to pay forward the gift he gave me and I found that showing that kindness made many people feel good.  

     Lastly I will tell you of a very, very recent act of kindness that was bestowed upon me.  So recent in fact that it is only hours old.  As most of you know from my writings I have been dealing with numerous health issues due to my weight.  Now even though my issues are getting better I still have a long way to go until I can say I am healthy if ever.  So due to my health being so poor I have had some issues with working my full schedule.  The lack of hours worked directly results in a much smaller paycheck as you may well have guessed and let me tell you that in today's world it is harder and harder to make a dollar stretch.  I knew to myself that I was scraping the bottom of the barrel to find gas money this week but I really wasn't saying a lot about it.  Out of the blue as I left church services this morning I found an envelope that had been left on the dashboard of my van.  It simply had written on it, Mike, God bless you.  Inside this envelope was enough cash to get me through and then some.  I still do not know who is the giver of such a wonderful gift but I know that God has used another person to show me kindness. 

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."

- Mark Twain -

 

     In the end, there are several other times that I can speak of where I have been shown a kindness that truly made my life so much for the better but I have just given a small example.  It is for reasons like this that I say "A kindness in need is a kindness indeed."  Showing kindness isn't just a nice thing, or the right thing, or the Godly thing, it can truly make a difference in a life.  You may very well save a life by sharing a bit of your time and heart with someone else in need.  You will also find that your simple act of kindness will lighten your spirit as well.

     Throughout this journey of mine I have been shown many kindnesses and have found that I try to spread love over hate more often than not anymore.  I know that I say thank you in each and every post for my blog but I truly mean it from the very bottom of my heart.  Without the love and support that you all have shown me I am not sure just where I would be today so I say again thank you so very much.  I will say good-bye for this week but please remember greater things have yet to come, greater things have yet to be done.  Please share not only this blog with all that will listen but take a few moments to share some simple kindnesses with those in need.  You may very well be the person that shows a kindness that causes the pendulum to swing the other way in somebody's life.  You never know who needs some love and kindness to change their own lives.  VIVE LA FAT REVOLUTION!!!  Much love and may God bless you all!  To be continued...