Kindness Counts Fridays - Gifts from Above

Linking up with Helen at iwillbloom.wordpress.com for Kindness Counts Friday - on Saturday morning!

Although I do look for kindnesses I can give, or those I read about online - and seem to always be receiving kindnesses from others...

I haven't kept up enough to do the Kindness Counts Fridays!  But, since I have some written in my "Blessings Book", I wanted to share again this week!  So, here goes:


Kindness Given:

• Feeling blessed, and able to do so (to a certain extent), I decided to "pay it forward" and pay for the person's order in back of me at Wendy's...theirs was more than I expected, but doing some quick figuring, decided I was still able to pay for it!  Felt really good as I drove away - and would love to have seen their faces when the cashier told them!
• Offered to meet a friend who lives about an hour away so I could pick up some hand-made cards for a card swap we were doing.  She was going to be working about 25 minutes from my home (about 12 miles); not really far...but I was going to my daughter's house that is about 15 miles in the opposite direction.  But I had the time, and met her before heading to my daughter's.  (See Part 2 below in Kindness Received).

Kindness Received:

• My daughter picked me up so we could go shopping together - for a few things she needed for her house, since she is "redecorating"!  We ended up going where I needed to go and she bought me a night shirt and a shirt for my husband (her step-father)!  She also bought me lunch...and we never did get to the places she needed to go before she had to leave and pick up her son from school!
• The friend I met above in Kindness Given gave $20 towards my fee for the Puppy Crop that is coming up.  Not being able to attend, and very supportive of the organization, she wanted to do that as a thank you for coming out of my way to meet her.
• And, after paying that $20 plus $10 more I had put aside - I was only $27.00 away from paying the balance...and was told somebody else had paid my balance.

I don't always feel worthy of these kindnesses that are given to me...I am me and I share "my life and my struggles" with my friends, once I feel I can.  They in turn want to bless me by "giving" of their resources, whether it be "things" they know I can use (scrapbooking stuff!) or money towards events we all enjoy doing.  Yet, I still feel unworthy of these blessings...

Perhaps...knowing this...I will realize whose I am and that I am worthy of receiving the blessings He gives me through others!

Found Online:

A friend of mine, in the beginnings of cancer diagnosis and treatment, shares his journey on Facebook to give encouragement and inspiration to all of his friends.  He shared two acts of kindness the other day:

• At the parking lot of a large retail store, he spotted an "older lady" trying to get a new vacuum cleaner out of the shopping cart and into her vehicle; after finally convincing her to let him help, she stepped aside for his assistance.  He placed the item into the vehicle and thanked her for "letting me help."  She just stood there smiling and said, "I should be thanking you!"
• Then later, as he approached a stop sign, another "older lady" with a walker was waiting to cross the street.  He stopped and motioned for her to cross, but she was afraid to go.  So, he put the car in park, stepped out of the car and asked her to please cross the street!
• And, I can't pass up the opportunity to share the love and support and encouragement I have seen on the blogging groups - Together We {Blog} has welcomed some new people; a couple of them young and unsure of sharing have expressed that uncertainty - and received so much encouragement for others!  Not only do we blog together...but we love and share together!

Each of these acts of kindness did not take long to do.  Each one provided an act of kindness to someone in need; and provided an inter-change between two strangers, each leaving with smiles on their faces and made them feel good, knowing someone else cared for their well-being, and nothing was expected in return.

Thank you, God, for the gifts - the blessings or kindnesses - that you give to each of us!!

I will continue to look for Acts of Kindness around me - observing, giving, receiving, or seen online - and will join Kindness Counts Fridays again in a week or so!