by Kelly
Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless ~Mother Teresa
It was was a drive-by blessing….a random act of kindness. On Saturday, my daughter called to tell me that the car in front of her paid for her Starbucks. It was the first time this has ever happened to her and she was so touched and so grateful.
I think we all have similar stories of being touched by another's kindness and the accompanying feeling of gratitude. Even here on the blog, many of us have shared our own stories about thankfulness. How the simple process of paying attention and counting our blessings has changed the way we see life. How the practice of gratitude has made our lives richer and fuller. And that in and of itself is a wonderful thing. But it was never meant to stop there…Gratitude is meant to go full-circle.
From our blessings, we can bless others. And random acts of kindness are indeed a wonderful way to pay it forward. I would also like to offer that we can extend kindness is many ways…and I think there is no more powerful way to bless others than with kind words.
Thank you. You’re doing a great job. Way to go. I can tell you worked really hard on this. I’m here for you. You got this.
Words have power. Words matter. And like Mother Teresa said, we should not doubt the ripple effect of a kind word.
It’s not easy. I’m the first one to admit that when someone gets snarky with me, I’m likely to snap right back. But what if my first response was one of kindness? More like “Yey, I can see you’ve had a bad day…let’s start over.” Or sometimes, on those occasions when we have to have difficult conversations. Although the words might be strong, they can still be kind. I’m willing to bet that those who deserve kind words the least, probably need them the most.
So this month let’s give our gratitude some legs….let’s practice kindness as well. And while we pay for the coffee of the person behind us in line, maybe we could also offer some kind words to the dippy drive-through gal who gave us a macchiato when we asked for a latte. Or maybe offer some encouragement to a person who clearly needs someone in their corner.
There is power in gratitude. There is power in kindness. Together they can change the world.
With love and gratitude,
Kelly
7 comments:
it's like raising a child: there's always a different way to twist a negative into a positive. this post is a great reminder to make the positive front and center once again, kelly.
Very good post.
Sometimes, we have no idea how much a kind word or action can mean for someone.
Words do indeed have power.
It's so amazing to me how we all end up with similar ideas so often. If you look at my first gratitude picture in Flickr - it was gratitude for the encouragement I've had from friends near and far for my photography - it's the spreading of kindness that Dotti spoke of yesterday, and the kind words that Kelly discusses here. It's Cathy's post on her blog about her husband's kindness. I have already written my next post on the same idea.
I guess thats how and why we all became friends - we believe in kindness and don't ever take it for granted.
A beautiful truth, beautifully expressed. It's so true, words have power. This is a perfect complement to Linda's post last week. We need to think more about what we say and we should always try to say it kindly. Good food for thought!
What a beautiful post, Kelly. There is so much power in kindness, a kind word can change someone's day. Thank you for reminding us.
Yes! Kind words have power! It may be hard to say in the face of a snarky comment but it's the best way to go! Thanks for this timely and important reminder!
Ahh kindness, our world could use a huge dose of this sometimes. But then we come across those "sweet acts of kindness" like your daughter experienced at Starbucks and realize there is so much good in the world and it is my pleasure to add to that goodness & kindness. Thanks for this lovely post.
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