Just a Little

I was just pondering how sometimes a tiny thing can have leverage and end up making a big difference, and low and behold on the television came just such a story. I'll try to recall the details. A man in prison for killing his landlady with an ax was unhappy that he was not allowed to vote, He sued. The court agreed. He changed voting for felons and may change the course of some of the elections.

Actually, I had been thinking about changes because of small acts of kindness and goodness. A tiny act can open a tiny crevice in the heart and leverage good things for years to come. And, I guess it's partly the old adage that you may be entertaining angels unawares, and Jesus' thought that whatever you do for the least among us we do for him. I thought of some of the small acts of kindness that people did in my long gone past. Let's see:

• Aunt Eleanor painting my little girl fingernails bright red, and also honoring my art and getting me panting lessons.
• Kathy Emshaw across the street letting me use her bike to learn how to ride - it took me all day, but I did it.
• Kathy Peterson having me for week-ends at her house in Friendly Hills. Lots of brothers and sisters and running freely in the orange groves, eating frozen orange halves like sherbet, and simply having a couple of days feeling free.
• My daddy building me the most wonderful swing, putting in a tetherball, helping me with my science project and everything else.
• Mother taking me with her on buying trips to L.A. for the store where she was the buyer.
• Ms. Crowell taking me under her wing and introducing me to theater, to caviar and many special things,
• and a thousand little things from countless people.

Each little kindness adds up, opens up the heart, moves us in positive directions. I was thinking about how wonderful that every good and kind act done for us is also done for Jesus. It all adds up to another step on the spiritual path for the person being kind, for the person receiving the kindness and for Christ. 

Unintended consequences can be a good thing when they start a chain reaction of light. Let's see how many little kind things we can do this week.