A harvest of Charity
THERE are many verses in the Holy Bible on kindness, charity, and compassion. The verses have a common message: That your giving and caring brings sunshine to the lives of others and will return to you; that you will always reap what you sow. In the words of Galatians 6:7: "A man soweth, that shall he also reap."
As someone once said: Kindness always pays but it pays most when you don’t do it for pay. It is heartening to note that there abounds in our midst many unnamed, unremembered, unpublicized acts of kindness and love.
Many of us do not know Stephen Grellet, a French-born Quaker who died in New Jersey in 1855. Grellet is immortalized by a few lines he said which served as an inspiration to so many people. The familiar lines are: "I shall pass through this world but once. Any good that I can do, or any kindness that I can show any human being, let me do it now and defer it. For I shall not pass this way again."
Let me share with you two stories that will inspire and encourage you to do little acts of kindness in our everyday life. As we grow older, we admire kind people. Unlike when we were younger, when we admire successful and clever people.
Story 1 - "Former US President William McKinley was once planning to appoint an ambassador to a foreign country. There were two candidates whose qualifications were almost equal, and McKinley searched his mind for some yardstick by which he might measure the true greatness of the men in question. He later confided that the self-centeredness of the one and the magnanimous kindness of the other were the deciding factors in the scale of his judgment. Many years before, when he was still a representative in Congress, McKinley said he had boarded a street car at the rush hour and managed to get the last vacant seat. An old washer woman entered shortly afterward carrying a heavy basket. She walked the length of the car and stood in the aisle, hardly able to keep her balance as the vehicle swayed from side to side in its race down the tracks. No one offered her a seat. One of the men the president was later to consider was sitting opposite where she was standing. McKinley noticed that he shifted his newspaper in order to avoid seeing her. Mr. McKinley walked down the aisle, took her basket of washing and offered her his seat in the back of the car. The candidate never knew that this little act of selfishness had deprived him of perhaps the crowning honor of his lifetime. For the president later recalled this unkindness and decided to appoint the other man as his ambassador." (As narrated by R. Zuck, a Christian writer.)
Story 2 - Here’s the other story: "It was a very nasty, stormy night at a small hotel in Philadelphia. An elderly man and woman approached the registration desk. Their question was, "Do you have room for us tonight?" Then, with a slight pause, the woman briefly explained, "We have been to some of the larger hotels, and they are all full.""The clerk explained that there were several conventions in town at the time, and indeed no rooms were available anywhere in Philadelphia that particular night. He also pointed out to them that all of the rooms in his hotel were full as well. But the clerk went on, "I wouldn’t feel right about turning you out on such a nasty night. Would you be willing to sleep in my personal room?" The couple was taken aback at the generous offer and didn’t know how to respond. The young man insisted that he would be able to get along just fine if only they would use his room.
As someone once said: Kindness always pays but it pays most when you don’t do it for pay. It is heartening to note that there abounds in our midst many unnamed, unremembered, unpublicized acts of kindness and love.
Many of us do not know Stephen Grellet, a French-born Quaker who died in New Jersey in 1855. Grellet is immortalized by a few lines he said which served as an inspiration to so many people. The familiar lines are: "I shall pass through this world but once. Any good that I can do, or any kindness that I can show any human being, let me do it now and defer it. For I shall not pass this way again."
Let me share with you two stories that will inspire and encourage you to do little acts of kindness in our everyday life. As we grow older, we admire kind people. Unlike when we were younger, when we admire successful and clever people.
Story 1 - "Former US President William McKinley was once planning to appoint an ambassador to a foreign country. There were two candidates whose qualifications were almost equal, and McKinley searched his mind for some yardstick by which he might measure the true greatness of the men in question. He later confided that the self-centeredness of the one and the magnanimous kindness of the other were the deciding factors in the scale of his judgment. Many years before, when he was still a representative in Congress, McKinley said he had boarded a street car at the rush hour and managed to get the last vacant seat. An old washer woman entered shortly afterward carrying a heavy basket. She walked the length of the car and stood in the aisle, hardly able to keep her balance as the vehicle swayed from side to side in its race down the tracks. No one offered her a seat. One of the men the president was later to consider was sitting opposite where she was standing. McKinley noticed that he shifted his newspaper in order to avoid seeing her. Mr. McKinley walked down the aisle, took her basket of washing and offered her his seat in the back of the car. The candidate never knew that this little act of selfishness had deprived him of perhaps the crowning honor of his lifetime. For the president later recalled this unkindness and decided to appoint the other man as his ambassador." (As narrated by R. Zuck, a Christian writer.)
Story 2 - Here’s the other story: "It was a very nasty, stormy night at a small hotel in Philadelphia. An elderly man and woman approached the registration desk. Their question was, "Do you have room for us tonight?" Then, with a slight pause, the woman briefly explained, "We have been to some of the larger hotels, and they are all full.""The clerk explained that there were several conventions in town at the time, and indeed no rooms were available anywhere in Philadelphia that particular night. He also pointed out to them that all of the rooms in his hotel were full as well. But the clerk went on, "I wouldn’t feel right about turning you out on such a nasty night. Would you be willing to sleep in my personal room?" The couple was taken aback at the generous offer and didn’t know how to respond. The young man insisted that he would be able to get along just fine if only they would use his room.
posted by sperli at 4:29 PM
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