Be Blessed and be a blessing....A RAOK challenge

[bargain]

I'm going to challenge each of you and myself to do a Random Act of Kindness and report back on it to this post.

I just woke up this morning having for the third night in a row a dream about Kind Acts.....and I heard a dream voice which said "Be Blessed and be a Blessing".....

So let the challenge begin!!!!

Edit here:
If you don't want to post what you did, please don't feel compelled.....I just hope you can say "I took the challenge" and that will just be great if you can do that...

I've read some of the posts and I'm in total agreement that this should not be about "bragging" but about sharing if we want to inspire others or just to say "I'm taking the challenge"

This is no contest or anything.....Just a thought and a hope we'll have some folks that will try this for a while. God bless you alll!
............................................

Our motto:

Be blessed and be a blessing!

 

[turney31]

While going through Jack in the box drive thru, I paid for the deputys meal who was in line behind me. I asked the clerk to tell him I appreciate what he does! Although I normally don't like to say what I do to help others.

Micah

 

[chickabator]

I try to keep what I do for others between me and God. He is the only one to be honest that needs to know. I dont need a thank you or a wow or any kind of praise cause what the good Lord lets me be able to do is because of him. I dont need any glory I just want the glory to go to the one that deserves it and that is him cause without him I could do nothing.

 

[Beekissed]

I started a thread about this on the SS forum and you wouldn't believe how many folks are out there doing this all the time. I was quite impressed!

I took one of the ideas of paying for someone's meal in a restuarant and tried it. Someone paid my bridge toll the other day and I was pleasantly surprised when I drove up and didn't have to pay.....so shocked, in fact, that I didn't pay for the next driver as I should have.

Not only do I try to commit these acts but I have been a Kindness Victim~

~ numerous times in my life....it always gives me hope about the general condition of the human race.

It's a fun thread and a fun idea to see how many people you can surprise with secret kindness....but don't forget that kindness doesn't have to be random at all but a habit one gets into. I have a small sign in my office that reads~Just Be Nice.

 

[verity]

I don't usually 'tell' things that we do -- but I will say that we are so fortunate to have everything we 'need' that we often hand out cash to people who are not expecting it ---

there is an old guy who sells newspapers on the corner of a busy intersection -- we subscribe to the paper so never buy one from him -- can't imagine he could make enough money to buy his lunch -- but he is there, rain or shine, and so happy and smiling -- yesterday he was wearing reindeer antlers on his cap and we slowed down to give him money and to hank him for always making us smile --

Recently I was staying at a hotel and overheard a little boy of about 10 asking his mama what 'room-service' was -- they were part of a church group there for an overnight 'sleep-over' for kids --- I gave the boy some money to order a pizza from 'room service' --

It is so much fun to do these things --- I do them for ME so it's probably 'selfish' --

and it's always more fun to do this kind of thing when you don't see the recipient's reaction --- as in paying for drive-thru meals for the person behind you --

like 'beekissed' I have been a 'Kindness Victim' many times as well --- once at a busy airport I chatted with a young man who was waiting for his wife to have a 'chair-massage' -- when it was my turn for the massage chair I was stunned to find that the young man had not only paid for my massage but had paid for 'extra' time!

my favorite 'kindness' is when we stay in a hotel to find out who has been cleaning our room each day and leaving a note and a large tip at the desk for the cleaner --

another way of being 'kind' is to write to the supervisor of anyone who is particularly pleasant and helpful -- as in airport or hotel employees --
(this is more trouble than handing out 'cash' but it encourages people who have those deal-with-the-public jobs to be even more pleasant!)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

everyone loves to hear praise -- I had 'bloodwork' yesterday and when the girl came in to do it, my heart sank because she is usually sullen and cranky -- this time I 'faked-it' and said, 'Oh, I'm so glad it's you -- you did the best job last time -- I hardly felt the needle!' -- this girl looked startled but then she was really, really careful as she found a vein (no 'jabbing around' this time!) and when she was finished she smiled shyly at me and said, 'Was that as good as last time'?' My son said that she must have known I was 'acting' but I believe she tried to be more gentle with all of her 'victims' after that -- at least for a while!

 

[3goodeggs]

I agree that we do not need praise for kindness. It is who we are, and what we have been taught to be.

However, I like the ideas that other people are leaving. And they are not doing so for praise, they are trying to encourage other to 'be blessed by being a blessing.'

Not all acts of kindness require money. Last Christmas a lady was shopping in our local grocery store.
She was dressed so nicely. She was lovely. Every time I saw her I wanted to tell her how nice she looked.(I was dirty from work ,and frazzled. I didn't think she'd approve of me talking to her.) By the time I finally got up the courage to tell her, we were in the dairy aisle on the far side of the store. Her eyes welled up and she hugged me.(dirt and all.) She said that she had lost her husband that year and was caring for her elderly sister who was dying. She said she did not feel beautiful. She put on nice clothes and jewelry to try and make herself cheer up a bit.

I am a shy person, but years ago I decided that It would benefit me to say nice things to strangers. If they were annoyed or disgusted, then I needed to learn how to handle that as well. No one has ever not been happily surprised from one of my unsolicited compliments, and I have met some nice people. I have grown and become a stronger person, and you never know when a kind word means the difference between a good day and a horrible day.

And when you are kind to a child...It could be 'the' difference in their lives. You never know what kids are going through. Always be nice to a kid. Even if they are annoying, they deserve for the adult to start out on the right foot.

 

[CedarRidgeChicks]

..3goodeggs!

 

[verity]

3goodeggs -- how very right you are!

My daddy used to talk to everyone we ever saw -- I often cringed in embarrassment but now I find myself telling the check-out clerk how efficiently she is doing her job or admiring someone's hair or clothes -- just making eye-contact and smiling is good ---

I almost always speak to kids I don't know -- (one little girl a year or so ago, started shrieking, 'A STRANGER is talking to me!!!!' It was funny, but kinda sad at the same time --

Kindness costs us nothing and the results are terrific ---

 

[Whispering Winds]

Verity, my dad was the same way, and made a friend no matter where he went. I miss him alot these days, he died three days before my high school graduation, in 1970. He always had a nice thing to say to people, and I have tried to be that way too.
The one thing I want to stress to people is this; don't just be kind of strangers and non-relatives. Be kind to your family and people close to you. Kindness can startle people, especially from someone they know and love and don't expect it from, but the goodness and the feelings of love and delight are still the same . . .so be sure to tell the people in your family and extended family nice things too. My DS has a framed picture in his room that is "100 ways to Praise a child" and it can very easily carry over to adults as well. Good words to live by.

Letters are a wonderful way to send kind thoughts. Everyone is in such a hurry these days, just take a few minutes to write a letter or note to someone, or just send them a card. Yes, stamps are a little $$, but an older person who is all alone gets a card or note in the mail, they can hold that in their hands and read it whenever they want. It "stays" with them, a lot longer than a phone call!!!

 

[speckledhen]

I won't post what I've done. In fact, I have been the recipient of so many random acts of kindness this past year, I am still in awe of those wonderful, selfless people.