Please don't take offense. But if you understand the vernacular of cowboys, you'll understand the line that's about to come. I heard about a cowboy not too long ago who said he'd rather be horseback riding and roping than doing anything else. And what caught my attention was what he had to say about the inherent problem within most of us human creatures of not taking life one day at a time as only that cowboy could maybe do. Here's what he said: “When ya’ got one foot in yesterday and the other foot in tomorrow, yer’ messin’ all over today.”
Just lay the cowboy vernacular aside. Believe me, that’s the truth. I've come to believe that too often we’re paralyzed by a past we can’t change and fret over a future we can’t control. The word for that is one you know - “worry”. And if you’re anything like me, you sometimes find yourself doing a bit too much of it. I think that worry is rather like a rocking chair. It gives us something to do, but it doesn’t get us anywhere. Worry is counter-productive and won’t add a single minute to our lives. In fact, if medical studies are accurate, worry may well shorten our life.
You probably already know from personal experience that worry is associated with stress. And stress is associated with elevated adrenaline levels in our body. In God’s design, adrenaline is for emergencies; for crisis situations that demand a “fight or flight” response. But in our western culture we’ve made “emergencies” out of many routine situations. So much so that many of us live each day as though we are on an adrenaline drip. When we continually spend a dollar’s worth of adrenaline on ten cent problems, our minds and bodies pay a price.
Our heads may know that worry is an exercise in futility. But honestly, when life presses in and puts the squeeze on, a Hallmark card telling us to “take life one day at a time” isn’t all that comforting. Maybe you’re worried about your children. Maybe it’s a chronic health problem that has worn you to a frazzle. Maybe it’s a bad church experience that has left you wondering how to sort the truth from the trappings. Maybe your career has lost its luster and you’re wondering what to do with your life. Maybe you’re experiencing a loneliness of the soul that cannot be expressed. Maybe you’re grieving the loss of a friend or family member. Whatever worries you, weighs on you.
There are times in my life when I catch myself worrying just a tad bit too much. In those moments, the usual pressures of life get magnified quite a bit. I find myself somewhat at odds with Jesus’ practical advice. “Don’t worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of it’s own.” (Matthew 6:34) And when I stop to think about my attitude and my worry, there is only one conclusion. I'm not trusting that God will take care of me.
So I picked up on a practical little thing to do. I encourage you to do it, too. Right now. Grab any piece of paper in front of you and for 60 seconds (no longer) write down as many blessings in your life as you can think of. Don’t ponder them and don’t edit your list. Just write as many as you can as fast as you can. Ready? Go.
Now flip the paper over. On this side take 60 seconds (no longer) to write down as many worries as you can. Whatever’s weighing heavy on your head and heart, jot it down. Ready? Go.
When you’re finished, look at your list of blessings and ask yourself this question: “Is there anything on this list that I have ever worried about in some form or fashion?”
I bet there is. My list of blessings was loaded with items that I’d worried about at one time or another. The point is, if the items on our blessing list used to be on our worry list, then it’s tangible proof that God takes care of us. On His timetable and in His way, yet tangible proof that God can be trusted with the details of our lives.
There is a piece of Jewish wisdom that goes like this, “Do not worry over tomorrow’s evils, for you know not what today will bring forth. Perhaps tomorrow you will not be alive and you will have worried for a world that will not be yours.”
Whatever stress you’re staring at this week, start by getting both feet in today. There’s enough trouble to kick around without borrowing trouble from a tomorrow that may not come.
Oh, and remember...God will take care of you. Those items on your blessing list that used to be on your worry list are proof of that.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
It Just Ain't Fair
It has been called one of the top memorable moments and blunders in college football history. And I was there to see it happen on October 6, 1990, along with 46,856 football crazies.
The game pitted the Colorado Buffaloes (CU) against their Big Eight Conference rival, the Missouri Tigers (MU). It was at Missouri. It became known as the Fifth Down Game.
Colorado was ranked #12 in the nation and Missouri - well, let's just say they weren't ranked at all. Nada.
One of the basic rules of the game of football is actually pretty simple and basic: a team on its initial possession of the ball on offense is allowed four successive and consecutive attempts or "downs" to move the ball 10 yards towards the opposing goal line. If you don't move 10 yards in 4 downs, you give the ball up to the opponent.
Colorado trailed 31-27, with 40 seconds to go and the clock ticking. They had the ball and called a timeout, ready for the third down, with just seconds left in the game. One problem. The officiating crew forgot to flip the down marker to note that it was now third down. On the next play, the down marker showing second down when it was really third down, Colorado was stopped short of the end zone. On the next play, the quarterback quickly "spiked" the ball (thinking it was third down when it was really fourth) to stop the clock with two seconds left. On the following play – fourth down according to the marker, but "fifth down" in reality – the quarterback kept the ball himself and scampered in for a touchdown with no time left.
Final score: Colorado 33, Missouri 31.
And yes, I was screaming like the rest of thousands of fans, knowing that an extra down was being given - but to no avail. End of game. Final score. The rule violation that never got overturned. Colorado win. Missouri gets hosed.
The biggest rules fiasco in the history of Missouri. That the head coach Bill McCartney, four years after he retired as the Colorado coach, admitted to making mistakes and being saddened by the Fifth Down fiasco, and made the remarks at a Promise Keepers gathering at the site of the controversy in Missouri - didn’t make me or thousands of other Tigers fans feel any better.
I still don't think it's fair. Just ain't fair, it ain't.
Okay, so football is just a game. But what do we do when the calls don’t go our way in real life?
What do you do when someone with less tenure, less experience, less education and lower performance gets promoted ahead of you? What do you do when your company down-sizes you out of a job the same week you find out you’re expecting a baby? What do you do when the doctor says the tumor is malignant? What do you do when your character and reputation are tainted and misrepresented by another person? What do you say when you come out of the store to find your car window smashed and your stereo stolen? What do you do when lightening hits and burns your house to the ground?
They say “fair” is where you buy cotton candy. That’s true. I’ve bought it there before. But life? Life certainly isn’t fair.
Maybe our expectations are unrealistic. We live in a fallen world full of broken people. Present company included. Given the systemic corruption of our very nature, is it realistic to expect fairness? To use a farm analogy, expecting justice and fairness from a broken world is like putting a milk bucket under a bull. It just ain’t gonna happen.
Sometimes life isn’t fair and we had nothing to do with it. We were just eating our cotton candy and got blindsided by an injustice.
Sometimes life isn’t fair and we had something to do with it and the mess we find ourselves in is our own doing.
Regardless, God is very up front about the fact that life post-Eden isn’t fair. He reminds us throughout the Bible that our sin made “fair” the rare exception and not the rule.
Life is hard and God knows that.
We can’t change the fact that life isn’t fair. We can be glad that God is bigger than our circumstances. Much as we might not understand it, He may be doing His best work in and through us in the middle of our most painful situations.
We’re wasting our time if we try to make life “fair”, then complain when it isn’t. Life’s hard. That’s reality.
Life is hard. Painfully so. But God is good. He promises never to quit on you. In the middle of your “it’s not fair!”, His grace is sufficient.
Oh, yes. Back to the story. After the conclusion of the 1990 season, in January, 1991, the AP Poll voted Colorado national champions. With a loss at Missouri, the Colorado record would have been 10–2–1 - and no national championship.
It still ain't fair. Even though the seven man officiating team was suspended indefinitely following the contest. Didn't change the outcome.
And in your life and mine, the outcome isn't always changed. His grace is still sufficient, anyway. He won't give up. And neither should you.
The game pitted the Colorado Buffaloes (CU) against their Big Eight Conference rival, the Missouri Tigers (MU). It was at Missouri. It became known as the Fifth Down Game.
Colorado was ranked #12 in the nation and Missouri - well, let's just say they weren't ranked at all. Nada.
One of the basic rules of the game of football is actually pretty simple and basic: a team on its initial possession of the ball on offense is allowed four successive and consecutive attempts or "downs" to move the ball 10 yards towards the opposing goal line. If you don't move 10 yards in 4 downs, you give the ball up to the opponent.
Colorado trailed 31-27, with 40 seconds to go and the clock ticking. They had the ball and called a timeout, ready for the third down, with just seconds left in the game. One problem. The officiating crew forgot to flip the down marker to note that it was now third down. On the next play, the down marker showing second down when it was really third down, Colorado was stopped short of the end zone. On the next play, the quarterback quickly "spiked" the ball (thinking it was third down when it was really fourth) to stop the clock with two seconds left. On the following play – fourth down according to the marker, but "fifth down" in reality – the quarterback kept the ball himself and scampered in for a touchdown with no time left.
Final score: Colorado 33, Missouri 31.
And yes, I was screaming like the rest of thousands of fans, knowing that an extra down was being given - but to no avail. End of game. Final score. The rule violation that never got overturned. Colorado win. Missouri gets hosed.
The biggest rules fiasco in the history of Missouri. That the head coach Bill McCartney, four years after he retired as the Colorado coach, admitted to making mistakes and being saddened by the Fifth Down fiasco, and made the remarks at a Promise Keepers gathering at the site of the controversy in Missouri - didn’t make me or thousands of other Tigers fans feel any better.
I still don't think it's fair. Just ain't fair, it ain't.
Okay, so football is just a game. But what do we do when the calls don’t go our way in real life?
What do you do when someone with less tenure, less experience, less education and lower performance gets promoted ahead of you? What do you do when your company down-sizes you out of a job the same week you find out you’re expecting a baby? What do you do when the doctor says the tumor is malignant? What do you do when your character and reputation are tainted and misrepresented by another person? What do you say when you come out of the store to find your car window smashed and your stereo stolen? What do you do when lightening hits and burns your house to the ground?
They say “fair” is where you buy cotton candy. That’s true. I’ve bought it there before. But life? Life certainly isn’t fair.
Maybe our expectations are unrealistic. We live in a fallen world full of broken people. Present company included. Given the systemic corruption of our very nature, is it realistic to expect fairness? To use a farm analogy, expecting justice and fairness from a broken world is like putting a milk bucket under a bull. It just ain’t gonna happen.
Sometimes life isn’t fair and we had nothing to do with it. We were just eating our cotton candy and got blindsided by an injustice.
Sometimes life isn’t fair and we had something to do with it and the mess we find ourselves in is our own doing.
Regardless, God is very up front about the fact that life post-Eden isn’t fair. He reminds us throughout the Bible that our sin made “fair” the rare exception and not the rule.
Life is hard and God knows that.
We can’t change the fact that life isn’t fair. We can be glad that God is bigger than our circumstances. Much as we might not understand it, He may be doing His best work in and through us in the middle of our most painful situations.
We’re wasting our time if we try to make life “fair”, then complain when it isn’t. Life’s hard. That’s reality.
Life is hard. Painfully so. But God is good. He promises never to quit on you. In the middle of your “it’s not fair!”, His grace is sufficient.
Oh, yes. Back to the story. After the conclusion of the 1990 season, in January, 1991, the AP Poll voted Colorado national champions. With a loss at Missouri, the Colorado record would have been 10–2–1 - and no national championship.
It still ain't fair. Even though the seven man officiating team was suspended indefinitely following the contest. Didn't change the outcome.
And in your life and mine, the outcome isn't always changed. His grace is still sufficient, anyway. He won't give up. And neither should you.
Friday, April 10, 2009
It's Friday, But Sunday's Coming
Tony Campolo's best-known message is about a sermon delivered by his preacher at the mostly-black church they attended in Philadelphia. The essence of the preacher's message was one line, which he mentioned over and over again - a message particularly appropriate on Easter weekend. You can download the message at Tony's website, along with several other of Tony's messages.
IT'S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY'S COMING
It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.
It was Friday, and my Jesus is dead on a tree. But that’s Friday, and Sunday’s coming.
Friday, Mary’s crying her eyes out, the disciples are running in every direction like sheep without a shepherd. But that’s Friday, and Sunday’s coming.
Friday, some are looking at the world and saying, “As things have been, so they shall be. You can’t change nothing in this world! You can’t change nothing in this world!” But they didn’t know that it was only Friday, and Sunday’s coming.
Friday, them forces that oppress the poor and keep people down, them forces that destroy people, the forces in control now, them forces that are gonna rule, they don’t know it’s only Friday, but Sunday’s coming.
Friday, people are saying, “Darkness is gonna rule the world, sadness is gonna be everywhere,” but they don’t know it’s only Friday, but Sunday’s coming.
Even though this world is rotten, as it is right now, we know it’s only Friday. But Sunday’s coming!
IT'S FRIDAY, BUT SUNDAY'S COMING
It’s Friday, but Sunday’s coming.
It was Friday, and my Jesus is dead on a tree. But that’s Friday, and Sunday’s coming.
Friday, Mary’s crying her eyes out, the disciples are running in every direction like sheep without a shepherd. But that’s Friday, and Sunday’s coming.
Friday, some are looking at the world and saying, “As things have been, so they shall be. You can’t change nothing in this world! You can’t change nothing in this world!” But they didn’t know that it was only Friday, and Sunday’s coming.
Friday, them forces that oppress the poor and keep people down, them forces that destroy people, the forces in control now, them forces that are gonna rule, they don’t know it’s only Friday, but Sunday’s coming.
Friday, people are saying, “Darkness is gonna rule the world, sadness is gonna be everywhere,” but they don’t know it’s only Friday, but Sunday’s coming.
Even though this world is rotten, as it is right now, we know it’s only Friday. But Sunday’s coming!
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
All Those Dashes and Dots
If someone gave you a ticket to spend a day anywhere in the United States, where would you go?
I’d be on a plane to Chicago before you could say “deep dish pizza”. I love that city - even if it is massively big. Lots to see and lots to do, there is.
Several years ago I was taking classes there. I had some time to go downtown to the Art Institute of Chicago. My favorite place in my favorite city. One of the world’s best collections of classic art. Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Picasso all under one big roof.
I actually got misty seeing the lion statues that guard the entrance to the museum. Perhaps you have a place you go to that is good for your soul. The Art Institute of Chicago is good for my soul.
I must say that you need to know something up front about me. Keep in mind that when it comes to art, I can’t draw a straight line if you spot me a ruler. So I’m sure I can’t appreciate the complexity and genius of these masterpieces the way a true artist would. But I go and stand in front of them and am moved by them just the same.
I had quite limited time, but there was one thing I wanted to see on this one day I had. All I had to do was go upstairs and stare at Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon”. I must say it was worth the trip - it's one of my absolute favorites. For those who haven't seen it - here it is.
Seurat, a mere 25 years old when he painted this defining work, had spent previous years studying theories of light. The painting technique that he employed was based on those theories. Unlike the broader brush strokes of mixed colors that other Impressionist painters used, Seurat developed a new technique called “pointellism”. Or, as he preferred to describe it, “divisionism”.
As to size, it is a huge painting – the canvas stretches 7 feet x 10 feet. This masterpiece took 2 years to complete. From a distance what you see is the picture. The images of the people enjoying their Sunday afternoon on the Sienne River in France. What you don’t see from a distance is that the entire painting is made up of tiny dashes and dots of pure color paint.
That's right - nothing but dots and dashes of pure color paint! Get this. For the first year, Seurat painted nothing but horizontal dashes. The dashes are each one detached from the others. Then he added the dots of pure color paint. As you might imagine, this was a tedious and exacting process. The project was so intense that during the two years it took him to paint it, Seurat refused to have lunch with his close friends lest they distract him and break his concentration.
Up close, the dashes and dots look like, well. . . dashes and dots. Yet as you step back from the painting to a distance, the dashes and dots combine optically in your eye to form the desired image.
For two years, nothing but days and days of dashes and dots. Dots and dashes. Dashes and dots.
How could dashes and dots make a picture? It doesn’t make sense that detached horizontal dashes and dots of paint can combine to make a masterpiece. But they do.
That got me to thinking. What are the dashes and dots of my life? Or your life? What of those thousands of detached horizontal lines of seemingly disconnected events? When you step back are they really all that disconnected? When you step back far enough can you see how God has painted them in such a way that they form the picture of your life?
Was it really chance that you took that job in a different city? Was it just coincidence that you met that certain person? Was the career you felt trapped in really a waste of time? Was the serious illness really a stand alone event that led nowhere? Was the tragedy in your life the end of a dream? Or was God preparing you for something bigger?
Standing less than a foot away from Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon” and staring at the canvas, you think, “No way does this make a picture. It’s just dashes and dots of paint. No rhyme, no reason, no pattern.” And up close, you’d be right. It looks like one big random mess.
Only when you step back does it begin to make sense. 5 feet. 10 feet. 15 feet. 20 feet. And then the random mess becomes a beautiful Sunday afternoon picnic.
Now, if you’re like me, you might in the middle of a mess that makes no sense. I've had my fair share of those messes in life. All you see are dashes of dread and dots of pain. You want to make sense of it but you can’t. Not right now. We’re too close to see what God is painting. This close it’s just dashes and dots. The disappointments and heartbreaks - how can these be part of a beautiful picture?
With brush strokes of grace, God the Artist makes sense of our dashes and dots. Let’s remember to step back from time to time to see how He is bringing them together into the beautiful picture that is our life. Because whether we see it or not, He’s doing exactly that.
I know. He's taken the dots and dashes and dashes and dots of my life and done something quite remarkable with them. It's a work in progress - I am.
God promises to continue perfecting the good work that He began in us. Which is to say He will continue dashing and dotting until the masterpiece is complete. I'm quite okay with that. After all, He is Master Artist. He'll get it done right in the end - if we just let Him do His thing.
I’d be on a plane to Chicago before you could say “deep dish pizza”. I love that city - even if it is massively big. Lots to see and lots to do, there is.
Several years ago I was taking classes there. I had some time to go downtown to the Art Institute of Chicago. My favorite place in my favorite city. One of the world’s best collections of classic art. Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt, and Picasso all under one big roof.
I actually got misty seeing the lion statues that guard the entrance to the museum. Perhaps you have a place you go to that is good for your soul. The Art Institute of Chicago is good for my soul.
I must say that you need to know something up front about me. Keep in mind that when it comes to art, I can’t draw a straight line if you spot me a ruler. So I’m sure I can’t appreciate the complexity and genius of these masterpieces the way a true artist would. But I go and stand in front of them and am moved by them just the same.
I had quite limited time, but there was one thing I wanted to see on this one day I had. All I had to do was go upstairs and stare at Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon”. I must say it was worth the trip - it's one of my absolute favorites. For those who haven't seen it - here it is.
Seurat, a mere 25 years old when he painted this defining work, had spent previous years studying theories of light. The painting technique that he employed was based on those theories. Unlike the broader brush strokes of mixed colors that other Impressionist painters used, Seurat developed a new technique called “pointellism”. Or, as he preferred to describe it, “divisionism”.
As to size, it is a huge painting – the canvas stretches 7 feet x 10 feet. This masterpiece took 2 years to complete. From a distance what you see is the picture. The images of the people enjoying their Sunday afternoon on the Sienne River in France. What you don’t see from a distance is that the entire painting is made up of tiny dashes and dots of pure color paint.
That's right - nothing but dots and dashes of pure color paint! Get this. For the first year, Seurat painted nothing but horizontal dashes. The dashes are each one detached from the others. Then he added the dots of pure color paint. As you might imagine, this was a tedious and exacting process. The project was so intense that during the two years it took him to paint it, Seurat refused to have lunch with his close friends lest they distract him and break his concentration.
Up close, the dashes and dots look like, well. . . dashes and dots. Yet as you step back from the painting to a distance, the dashes and dots combine optically in your eye to form the desired image.
For two years, nothing but days and days of dashes and dots. Dots and dashes. Dashes and dots.
How could dashes and dots make a picture? It doesn’t make sense that detached horizontal dashes and dots of paint can combine to make a masterpiece. But they do.
That got me to thinking. What are the dashes and dots of my life? Or your life? What of those thousands of detached horizontal lines of seemingly disconnected events? When you step back are they really all that disconnected? When you step back far enough can you see how God has painted them in such a way that they form the picture of your life?
Was it really chance that you took that job in a different city? Was it just coincidence that you met that certain person? Was the career you felt trapped in really a waste of time? Was the serious illness really a stand alone event that led nowhere? Was the tragedy in your life the end of a dream? Or was God preparing you for something bigger?
Standing less than a foot away from Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon” and staring at the canvas, you think, “No way does this make a picture. It’s just dashes and dots of paint. No rhyme, no reason, no pattern.” And up close, you’d be right. It looks like one big random mess.
Only when you step back does it begin to make sense. 5 feet. 10 feet. 15 feet. 20 feet. And then the random mess becomes a beautiful Sunday afternoon picnic.
Now, if you’re like me, you might in the middle of a mess that makes no sense. I've had my fair share of those messes in life. All you see are dashes of dread and dots of pain. You want to make sense of it but you can’t. Not right now. We’re too close to see what God is painting. This close it’s just dashes and dots. The disappointments and heartbreaks - how can these be part of a beautiful picture?
With brush strokes of grace, God the Artist makes sense of our dashes and dots. Let’s remember to step back from time to time to see how He is bringing them together into the beautiful picture that is our life. Because whether we see it or not, He’s doing exactly that.
I know. He's taken the dots and dashes and dashes and dots of my life and done something quite remarkable with them. It's a work in progress - I am.
God promises to continue perfecting the good work that He began in us. Which is to say He will continue dashing and dotting until the masterpiece is complete. I'm quite okay with that. After all, He is Master Artist. He'll get it done right in the end - if we just let Him do His thing.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
On Just Being Kind
Smile.
Crack a joke.
Help the carry out person wrangle a couple stray carts. Write a real paper and pen note to a former teacher telling them what you learned from them. Call your parents and tell them you noticed how much smarter they got after you went to college.
Hold the door for someone.
Let the person behind you go ahead of you in line…even if they have more items than you do. Volunteer to take someone to the airport – and pick them up when they return. Don’t go through the shirt pile at Target like a hog rooting for truffles…find your size and stack the rest neatly back. Pay attention to body language – if the words say “I’m fine” and the face says, “I’m not fine”, ask what’s wrong. Then listen.
Develop eyes for the “invisible people”…they are created in the image of God.
Hold someone’s hand.
Send someone in need an anonymous gift card with a note, “God will never let you down.” Don’t go slow in the fast lane. Help someone change a tire. Pull your kids close, look them in the eye and say, “I wouldn’t trade you for the world. I am so proud to be your Dad/Mom.” Go to the nursing home and give Gladys and Lily a makeover while you ask them about the good old days.
Tell your neighbor not to buy a new lawnmower…he can use yours anytime he wants.
Love your wife. Respect your husband. Cherish your children. Offer your God-given talents to the church and community. Make the cashier at WalMart laugh. Hug. Visit someone in the hospital. Clean up your mess.
Own your mistakes. Say “I’m sorry.”
Forgive.
Invite someone to church. Pass along the magazine article that made you smile. Gather your friends in crisis and host a “Life is Hard But God is Good” party – 30 minutes of crying and complaining followed by two hours of laughing and reminding one another that the joy of the Lord is your strength. Smile and say “thank you” and make eye contact when you do.
Ask someone, “How can I pray for you?”
Then pray.
Share a beautiful photo. Give an I-Tunes gift card with a note, “Buy the music that speaks to your heart.” Stop being grouchy. Compliment other people’s kids. Show up at someone’s door with a decadent chocolate cheesecake. (And don’t forget the coffee.) Read to your children. Give someone a roll of quarters for the car wash. Be a surrogate Mom/Dad, Grandpa/Grandma to a college student from out of state. Take out the trash without being asked. Post your child’s artwork on the refrigerator.
Leave a big tip.
Be patient with your kids.
Buy a bag of groceries for someone, put them on the step and do a “ring and run” (it’ll be a rush and you’ll feel like a kid again.) Rake leaves for an elderly person who wishes they could but can’t. Give a single parent a break by entertaining their kids for an evening. Pay compliments to those who least expect it…”Something I always notice when I come here is how clean it is. Thanks for scrubbing those restrooms. You do a great job.”
Make those who feel insignificant feel significant. Make those who feel unloved feel loved. Call out the obvious talent you see in someone and spur them to develop it.
Stop being prideful. Apologize.
Call a long lost friend in another state, tell them to go outside and look at the same moon while you talk about old times.
Play a practical joke. Make a memory.
Be thankful.
Be grateful.
Live your life as a gift to God.
Point people to Jesus.
And remember - it's not really all that hard to find ways to be kind. It's sort of like that little girl who prayed, "God, make all the bad people, good. And all the good people, nice."
Crack a joke.
Help the carry out person wrangle a couple stray carts. Write a real paper and pen note to a former teacher telling them what you learned from them. Call your parents and tell them you noticed how much smarter they got after you went to college.
Hold the door for someone.
Let the person behind you go ahead of you in line…even if they have more items than you do. Volunteer to take someone to the airport – and pick them up when they return. Don’t go through the shirt pile at Target like a hog rooting for truffles…find your size and stack the rest neatly back. Pay attention to body language – if the words say “I’m fine” and the face says, “I’m not fine”, ask what’s wrong. Then listen.
Develop eyes for the “invisible people”…they are created in the image of God.
Hold someone’s hand.
Send someone in need an anonymous gift card with a note, “God will never let you down.” Don’t go slow in the fast lane. Help someone change a tire. Pull your kids close, look them in the eye and say, “I wouldn’t trade you for the world. I am so proud to be your Dad/Mom.” Go to the nursing home and give Gladys and Lily a makeover while you ask them about the good old days.
Tell your neighbor not to buy a new lawnmower…he can use yours anytime he wants.
Love your wife. Respect your husband. Cherish your children. Offer your God-given talents to the church and community. Make the cashier at WalMart laugh. Hug. Visit someone in the hospital. Clean up your mess.
Own your mistakes. Say “I’m sorry.”
Forgive.
Invite someone to church. Pass along the magazine article that made you smile. Gather your friends in crisis and host a “Life is Hard But God is Good” party – 30 minutes of crying and complaining followed by two hours of laughing and reminding one another that the joy of the Lord is your strength. Smile and say “thank you” and make eye contact when you do.
Ask someone, “How can I pray for you?”
Then pray.
Share a beautiful photo. Give an I-Tunes gift card with a note, “Buy the music that speaks to your heart.” Stop being grouchy. Compliment other people’s kids. Show up at someone’s door with a decadent chocolate cheesecake. (And don’t forget the coffee.) Read to your children. Give someone a roll of quarters for the car wash. Be a surrogate Mom/Dad, Grandpa/Grandma to a college student from out of state. Take out the trash without being asked. Post your child’s artwork on the refrigerator.
Leave a big tip.
Be patient with your kids.
Buy a bag of groceries for someone, put them on the step and do a “ring and run” (it’ll be a rush and you’ll feel like a kid again.) Rake leaves for an elderly person who wishes they could but can’t. Give a single parent a break by entertaining their kids for an evening. Pay compliments to those who least expect it…”Something I always notice when I come here is how clean it is. Thanks for scrubbing those restrooms. You do a great job.”
Make those who feel insignificant feel significant. Make those who feel unloved feel loved. Call out the obvious talent you see in someone and spur them to develop it.
Stop being prideful. Apologize.
Call a long lost friend in another state, tell them to go outside and look at the same moon while you talk about old times.
Play a practical joke. Make a memory.
Be thankful.
Be grateful.
Live your life as a gift to God.
Point people to Jesus.
And remember - it's not really all that hard to find ways to be kind. It's sort of like that little girl who prayed, "God, make all the bad people, good. And all the good people, nice."
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