Serving with Kindness | Part Three
We considered the perspective of “Common Grace” last week. It would be good for us to reflect on the many times that we see God at work in this way.
In early 2020, we travelled to Oregon USA to be a part of a dear friend’s wedding. The original wedding plan was to celebrate with close to two hundred people. Covid restrictions quickly reduced that to twenty-five people. Kindness was present when the happy married couple entered the church to find single beautiful flowers in each row of seats, representing each absent person who could now not attend.
Then, as they exited the church, they found members of the church lining the street outside – appropriately spaced – expressing their love and support.
The family we were due to stay with were self-isolating because of their recent overseas travel; kindness mean that a local family offered their accommodation at short notice.
Imposed restrictions meant that we had to cut short our trip by almost a week; kindness meant that the accommodation providers reimbursed our payments when they were not legally required to do so.
Kindness led to our airline rescheduling our flights, waiving all fees and conditions so that we could catch the last flight out of San Francisco before total shut down.
On our way to the airport, we planned to stay at a hotel which shut down on the day of our reservation because of their concerns about physical distancing. When our rapidly booked replacement hotel discovered that we were Australians having to quickly return home, their kindness produced a room upgrade and a donation of masks and surgical gloves so that we could “stay safe” on our trip home.
Kindness meant that the airline pilot waited twenty minutes for three late-boarding passengers so that they could safely return to loved ones.
The cabin crew, were on their last flight, and facing uncertainty and at least two months of unemployment. They were kind, generous and considerate; serving passengers with joy and kindness.
Arriving in Melbourne, airport staff kindly took coffee orders and delivered them with a smile.
Knowing we were going to have to spend two weeks in self-isolation on our return, countless people offered to shop for us, loan books, puzzles – set up ways of holding conversations and so many other offers of kindness…
It’s not hard to see kindness all around us. Take a moment to reflect.
Let’s open our eyes to see all the kindnesses in our days; and let us do our part to multiply, enact, and celebrate kindness wherever we are.
Blessings
Brian