Kindness of Strangers - A Dose of Encouragement

We often take for granted the things our families do for us.

We sort of expect that they will come to our rescue when we have been in a car accident and need transport home as in  4 Accidents & a ...(pt2)

We usually expect to be understanding when things crop up to change our plans as in Which Point of View


We also expect to support each other & celebrate good times together as in  Olympic Torch Run



That's what we do for family.

Photo Credit: Bigstock Images

We also expect to be able to turn to friends for help and support.

We would be surprised if our friends were not willing to jump in to help at short notice, especially if we take ill and need babysitting help or those little trips to the chemist and shops for something we have run out of.

We are normally willing to check up on friends when we haven't seen them around or had contact with them for a while.


That's what we do for friends.

There are some other people we expect to help us and we are very thankful when they do a good job.  I can think immediately of the nice ladies in the shop I got my outfit for our son's wedding and some people who have helped Fred with queries over his work computer connections (he works from home).  These people of course are in jobs where that is their responsibility but we are thankful when they do it well and honestly and with a very pleasant attitude.


But then there are the people who do not have to help us at all.

Strangers who do something which just makes a moment of our life more pleasant or easier to bare.


When Fred's car skidded on the skimmed milk, overturned and ended up in a field there was the lovely considerate couple living beside that field who took him in to wait in their home while they contacted me and the police for him.  Fortunately he did not need an ambulance in 4 Accidents & a ...(pt3)


When Jonathan (6/7 years old) froze at the top of the moving stairs in the Main Shopping Centre in our city where I already had the pram containing Linda on the step that was starting to move & Daniel holding unto the pram; what could I do?
A kind lady coming behind me just said she would stay with Jonathan until I could get down and then up the other escalator again to get back to our oldest son who was developing a fear of heights.
It's not an easy thing to hold unto a pram and another child on moving stairs as you stand twisted round looking up at your son praying he will be okay with a stranger.
I was thankful to that woman who obviously felt compassionately towards our family.


Then there are the group of people I did not know and it may be said, still do not know in real life.
They are bloggers in a special Blogging Group who are always ready to answer questions myself and others have, ready to support and advise in situations where others have not been so nice.

I do not know the backgrounds, religion, politics of any of these people 

but I know how they react to others with 

consideration, help and kindness.

Where do we stand in acts of kindness?

Are we just there for our family?
Are we there for our friends?

Perhaps we are also there for the people in our church that need help.
Perhaps we would be there for the people who live in our street.


But

Are we there for the people we are suddenly next to in the shopping Centre?

Or the people who for some strange reason end up in our neighbourhood?

Or the people we don't even get to meet?

Why should we show care to people we don't even know?

Because

Photo Credit: Bigstock Images

Tears Over a Little Letter - A Dose of Encouragement

She placed her hand on my shoulder after the prayer meeting in church and simply smiled when I looked up.
I stood up to give her a hug as I normally do and ask how she was.
Then I noticed the tears in her eyes as she quietly said
"I got a letter from your daughter today".

I was surprised that it had arrived so soon as our daughter Linda is living in South Korea, but I was pleased that it had.  I knew that she had written but I hadn't mentioned it to Irene.

So I reminded her that Linda had told her she would write but Irene said she had not really expected her to take the time to do it for someone like her.

Whether she meant this because she is an older lady in our church, or because she is someone Linda only got to know while staying with us for 6 months between doing her masters and going to South Korea, or because she felt that she was an insignificant member of the church, I'm not sure.


All I knew was that she was so delighted by a little letter from my daughter.


She had brought it with her and took it out of her handbag to share it with me.

Written on little sheets of paper shaped like Panda's heads, Linda had just shared some random little incidents and feelings with our older friend.

I had to laugh because it was so typical of Linda - the cute comic paper to make anyone smile and laugh and then the little random stories.


Then Irene shared something else with me; she told me how she had woken up that morning feeling very down but that all changed when she read Linda's letter.

It was not a very long letter, but it was just an act of kindness that certainly made a difference that morning.  In fact later our Pastor told me how this letter was the first thing she spoke of when he had arrived at her home to take her to the prayer meeting that evening.

So today I want to write about a very basic thing that more and more is getting overlooked by all of us these days.


A little thing like a handwritten letter can mean so much more to someone than we can imagine,

     it can bring tears of joy to someone,

          it can show love to someone,

               it can say "I still think of you and care about you even when I don't see you"

                    it can just keep that connection fresh between two people.

A little bit of effort on our part can mean a whole lot of joy and encouragement to someone else.

Who can you encourage this week?

So who are you going to write to this week?

Will it be a letter or will you buy a sweet card and add a greeting?

Will you make a card and give it the really personal touch?

Or will you think of other similar ways to connect with someone?

Let's see who God wants us to bless with our thoughtfulness this week.

His Pyjamas on Another Bed! - A Dose of Encouragement

My husband Fred has been travelling more frequently with work in the last few months so a lot of our communication is via email, text messages, Kakaotalk, and Facetime.

I used to hate texting but now with three kids grown up and all living a distance from us I am well used to it even if my fingers seem to so often hit the buttons beside the ones I mean to hit so that I say things like  "I live yoi" instead of "I love you".

With our daughter Linda being in South Korea the rest of us were all introduced to Kakaotalk which is free messaging throughout the world provided you have wifi (Just like WhatsApp).

We message in groups of all of us and pairs of us and trios of us so we just decide who needs to be in the conversation and pick that group.

We can also send pictures and cute clipart things that Kakaotalk provide for us.

I love the sound of a message coming in - it actually goes "Kakao" in a little squeaky voice.


Then of course who couldn't like Facetime where I can prop the iPad up and sit and chat and make faces at the person at the other end of the call.  It is nice to see their faces when they are far away and we don't meet up for months on end.

So of course when Fred is away I am thankful that we can Facetime to have a proper chat but sometimes our time zones are different or when one of us is free the other one isn't so the Kakaotalk using comes into force then.

Well, being the type of people we are in this family there is usually something "random" that occurs or something we find funny or strange or just something that's different to normal and we have to send a picture or when on Facetime we wander round the house or room to show the other person something, angling the iPad as best we can.


This is exactly what happened the other day.


Fred is in Morocco at the moment (yet again) but this time he was in a different hotel to his previous trips.

This is what he showed me on facetime

Yes His Pyjamas on another bed!

Well you might say

 "What do you expect when he's travelling?"

My answer is

"Not him getting interested in some other woman setting his pyjamas out in a fancy way

 on the bed!"

He told me this was the second time it had been done and probably would have been the third but the day before he had thrown his pyjamas in his case so they didn't appear neatly presented on the bed that night.

Well we had a nice laugh about it.

And I said

"You should have taken a picture"

So he did then and there with the iPad.

THEN

This is the picture he sent me yesterday when he had moved to another location so another different hotel.

His comment was

"It must be a Moroccan thing"

"Not quite as fancy as Marrakech, but still!!"

Now let's go back to my thoughts from the first time.

I have to be honest and tell you that the woman responsible for that nice act was not the focus of my thoughts then.


The thing I was honing in on was

"He'd better not expect me to be placing his pyjamas on our bed neatly and artistically 

each day - or even once a week or once a year!"

We actually thought it was a lovely gesture that the cleaners would take the time to place the pyjamas not just folded on the bed but to arrange them neatly and with some thought put into it and in the first instance not only the pyjamas arranged so nicely but the covers on the bed presented differently too.

Obviously I am not as artistic or patient to take the time to do that.


But then later I thought about it again and

NO! I still did not think I was meant to start doing this for Fred

instead I considered this small act of kindness towards my husband and all the other people staying there on business trips

made by ladies who did not know them

ladies who were already busy

ladies working all day

but ladies who made people smile when they walked back into their rooms and saw that someone had just made that little bit of extra effort for them; and I was thankful for them.

"Obviously I am not as artistic or patient to take the time to do that!" she said.

So what kind of small things, that just take a little extra effort from us, can we do to make someone else feel more cared for?


Or what small things have others actually done for us that we can go around not noticing?

I encourage you today to think of some small things you can do each week just to take a little more care in something you normally do but that could just put a smile on someone's face or make them feel more appreciated.


I also encourage you today to notice these types of things when they are done for you and extend a smile and a word of thanks to show that you have appreciated the effort.