The Kindness Box

[Geoff-Allen]

Kindness pledge - several -

I pledge to myself, on this day.
To try to be kind, in every way.

To every person, big and small,
I will help them if they fall.

When I love myself and others too;
That is the best that I can do!

https://nellieedge.com/pdf/freepoetry/june/thekindnesspledge.pdf

 

[Geoff-Allen]

More here -

Kindness Challenge Letter | W O R K | Teaching kindness, Kindness activities, Kindness projects

 

[Geoff-Allen]

(FREE) Classroom Character Expectations - Being KIND Poster | Kindergarten Beginning of the Year | Classroom expectations, Classroom management, Classroom posters

 

[Geoff-Allen]

 

[FineLinen]

“Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away, just for this time in my life.”-- Author Unknown

 

[FineLinen]

Grace Multiplied

Lindsey needed a break from her studies, so she hopped up and checked her purse to see how much money she had left to spend on food.

Four dollars and fifty-eight cents did not sound like a lot of money considering there were three days left before she got paid.

Lindsey devised a plan to budget the money and opted for a trip to the corner market for a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter.

Grabbing her coat, Lindsey headed out the door and down the stairs hoping she did not pass anyone she knew along the way.

She arrived at Al’s Market just before closing, checked the prices to make sure she had enough money, and headed to the counter with her purchase.

To save a few steps in the biting wind, Lindsey decided to leave by the back door instead of the front.

As Lindsey stepped into the alley, she jumped as a nearby noise frightened her.

“Oh, don’t be alarmed, Miss. Howie and I were just looking through the garbage cans trying to find something to eat. We won’t hurt you.”

Lindsey turned to see a couple of elderly men in raggedy clothes, and the one who spoke to her tipped his soiled hat and smiled as he spoke.

Lindsey looked at the two men and then at her sack.

“I just realized I don’t need this. Could you two gentlemen use a loaf of bread and a jar of peanut butter?”

“Could we? Are you sure you don’t need it, Miss?”

“Oh, positive. I just realized I already have some at home. Here, take it, and let me see if Al has a knife you can use.”

“Why that is very kind of you, Miss. God bless you.”

Lindsey retreated into the store, secured an old knife from Al, and returned and handed it to the homeless man who spoke to her.

“Here you are. Well, I must be on my way now.”

“Thanks again, Miss. You are much too kind.”

Lindsey headed out of the alley and back to the dorm, more full in the heart than empty in the stomach, and not yet thinking of how she would survive the week.

“Excuse me, Miss, but I think you dropped this,” said another elderly man as he handed her an envelope.

“Oh, no this isn’t mine,” Lindsey replied, as she turned to return the envelope to the elderly gentleman, but he was nowhere in sight.

“Where could he have gone?” Lindsey wondered.

Lindsey opened the envelope and found a note inside.

“For as much as you have done unto the least of these, you have done unto Me.”

Inside the note Lindsey found two one hundred dollar bills upon which she deposited a few tears.

 

[FineLinen]

Prayers for Strangers

Yesterday I didn’t drive well;

I made a bad mistake.

Thank you God for the stranger

Whose foot slammed on his brake.

All day today I prayed for him,

As I prayed for many more

Who were quick-thinking at the wheel

And saved my life before.

There’s no other gift to give

To a stranger you don’t meet

Than to offer prayers for him

And lay them at God’s feet.

So every time I think about

Some driver who was skilled

And managed to undo a threat

That could have been fulfilled,

I say another prayer

For those strangers I don’t know

Who were wide awake and ready

When I was dim and slow.

"Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you."

 

[FineLinen]

“We cannot tell the precise moment when friendship is formed. As in filling a vessel drop by drop, there is at last a drop which makes it run over; so in a series of kindnesses there is at last one which makes the heart run over.” -― Ray Bradbury-

 

[FineLinen]

I see them all around me there,
With bright blue eyes and golden hair.
Some have different features too,
Some look the same as me and you.

There was this one with hair so dark,
And another one with a caring heart.
But yet another, at such a young age,
He looked the type to be in a cage.

They are all around this world so big,
You just have to look, no need to dig.
You see them on the corner of every city,
If you don’t, it is such a pity.

So, let me tell you now, it’s true,
About the angels God sends to you!
They may not have wings or shine so bright,
But they forever shine, with God’s loving light.

-Beverly Ballou-

 

[Geoff-Allen]

For those of you who have younger kids - here's a few books -

25 Children’s Books to Teach Your Kids Meaningful Values - Goodnet

Feel free to mention tour own ...

 

[MikeDwight]

I thought of adding a special kindness song, for people who think there's only a few ways for kindness, few ways to say I love you.

Don't do that. It's unkind.

 

[FineLinen]

"These are paper relics of our yesterdays that all too soon become a collage of moments captured in time. Life is a Hallmark card when you care enough to send the very best. " - Kathy Whirity

 

[FineLinen]

“A true friend leaves paw prints on your heart.”

“You may have many best friends but your dog only has one.”

"At your worst, your dog will still love you unconditionally, even when you don’t feel worthy of it."

“Whoever said diamonds are a girl’s best friend never owned a dog.”

 

[sun rise]

Sometimes the tiniest act of kindness can set up ripples which travel around this world. This is the central part of one such story:

As he strolled, he suddenly looked down and saw an acorn on the floor.

BYRD ignored all the choices most people would have taken. Instead, his first thought was that a child may have dropped it.

So he did what few would have done. He took it to the Lost And Found.

Charming, you might think.

Blissfully thoughtful, too.

Surely, though, the person at the Lost and Found would smile wistfully, take the acorn and mentally file it under "Yeah, alright. Whatever."

Instead, when BYRD got to the Lost And Found, he found two people looking lost.

It was a mother and daughter who were actually looking for that very acorn.

The most moving part of the story is surely BYRD's initial thought process.

His instinct was not to just go on his way, but to consider the background to the fallen acorn.

And, indeed, to consider that this acorn might have been important to someone else.

A Man Found An Acorn On A Shopping Mall Floor. What Followed Was An Extraordinary Act Of Thoughtfulness

 

[FineLinen]

 

[FineLinen]

Leaving Halloween Candy At House Of Stranger Whose Husband Was In The Hospital

"This Halloween, my husband was in the hospital. I was so stressed, I decided not to hand out candy and left a note on my door that said 'No candy due to illness.' After being at the hospital all day, I came home and heard a young girl's voice as she read my sign. I heard her say, 'Oh, that's so sad.' Later when I opened the door, I saw that she had left ME two pieces of candy on my welcome mat. After feeling so overwhelmed with all my family was going through at the moment, this small act of kindness really touched my heart."

 

[Geoff-Allen]

Acts of kindness for the homeless -

https://www.happify.com/hd/students-perform-surprise-act-of-kindness/

 

[FineLinen]

I wasn’t paying attention at the time to the good example my father set. He wasn’t consciously “setting a good example” — he was just living life according to his values.

It was the 1950s in a small Middle Georgia farm town. Our family owned a clothing store in the middle of the main business block downtown. Six days a week, 8am until 6pm (9pm on Saturday), my father presided over his business. And sometimes an angel would come to our store.

I didn’t recognize those visitors as angels. Neither did my mother, who accepted my father’s decisions but referred to Daddy’s angels as “bums”. She was concerned that they painted hobo marks to guide others to my father. My father was, and still is, an extremely kind man. He bought them lunch.

I guess Daddy knew Mama’s opinion and took precautions in case any individual “angel” might actually be an alcoholic. He would have a friendly, encouraging conversation with the person, who was shabby and obviously down on his luck.

Then Daddy would walk him across the street to the Coffee Cup Cafe and pay for him to eat the daily special, a hearty meal. Depending on how the conversation was going, Daddy would sometimes sit and have lunch with him.

Another variation on this theme was sometimes Daddy would bring the man to our house to do yard work to earn a bus ticket. Mama would feed him a good home cooked meal but would serve it to him in the kitchen or on the back steps.

Daddy explained his theory of angels to his children this way: “It’s Biblical. Sometimes God sends an angel among men unawares, to test us. How we behave toward the least of his children is how we treat Him.”

I remember chuckling at my “naive” father’s actions later when I got more grown and more savvy. I laughed that he got it backwards about who the angel was.

Now that I am middle-aged, I’m proud to say that I realize how blessed I am to have such a wise and good man, Joseph Van Johnson, as my father and my teacher.

I am also doubly blessed to be meeting angels now myself. More than once I have recognized God Himself staring back at me from the face of a homeless mentally ill person. I understand now that my father was respecting the spirit of God that is within each of us. - Kay Johnson McCrary

 

[FineLinen]

The tender loving care of human beings will never become obsolete. People even more than things have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed and redeemed and redeemed. Never throw out anybody.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of your arm. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands: one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

 

[Geoff-Allen]