Kind Heart

Kind Heart

A KIND PERSON BENEFITS HIMSELF AND OTHERS.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read Proverbs 11:16-17.

Verse of the Day: “Always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else” (1 Thessalonians 5:15, NIV).

“My candy!” Whitney said. She gripped the clear bag of hard candy tightly.

“No,” Mom said as she knelt beside Whitney. “I asked you to hold the candy until we got to the nursing home. Now that we’re here, Mommy needs the candy.”

“I don’t want to,” Whitney said, her voice a whimper.

“But Whitney, honey, that candy is diabetic candy. It’s made especially for people who can’t eat other kinds of candy.”

Whitney didn’t answer, nor did she release her hold on the candy.

“Why don’t I put you in charge of passing out the candy?” Mom suggested.

Whitney nodded solemnly but still hugged the candy to her chest. Mom rose then, gripped Whitney’s shoulder, and walked through the open doors of the nursing home. Immediately inside the door, Mom and Whitney met a white-haired woman in a wheelchair. “Would you like a few pieces of candy?” Mom asked her, explaining that “Whitney would be glad to share with you . . . wouldn’t you, Whitney?”

Whitney still looked unconvinced about giving away the candy, but she reached into the plastic bag and pulled out two brightly wrapped pieces. She slowly handed them to the lady.

“Oh, thank you so much,” the woman said. She accepted the candy without taking her eyes off Whitney’s face. “You’re such a nice little girl.”

Whitney smiled as she followed her mom to the nurses’ station at the back of the lobby. As her mom talked to the nurse on duty, Whitney wandered over to a thin, wrinkled man who sat in the lobby watching a game show on television. Whitney dug into her bag of candy and offered a couple of pieces to the man.

The man reached out with a quivering hand and took the candy from Whitney’s hand. “Thank you,” he said, his speech slurred but his eyes smiling and radiant.

Whitney ran to her mom’s side. “More, Mommy,” she said. “I want to do more.”

Mom smiled and for the next forty-five minutes led Whitney in and out of several rooms in the nursing home. Whitney gave candy to everyone she saw. Finally, Whitney had only a few pieces of candy left.

“We’re all done,” Mom explained to Whitney. “Thank you for your help.”

“It was fun,” Whitney answered, her eyes sparkling. “Can we do it again?”

Mom nodded. “Soon,” she said. “We’ll do it again soon.”

TO DISCUSS: What changed Whitney’s mind about sharing the candy? Which do you think was more enjoyable for her: having a bag of candy, or having the benefits of showing kindness to others? Have you ever been blessed because you showed kindness to someone else? If so, tell about it.

TO

PRAY: “Lord God, your daily kindness to us encourages us to be kind. Thank you. Lord, for the opportunities you provide for us to be kind.”

Old Elmer

Old Elmer

KINDNESS PROVIDES A GOOD REPUTATION AND BRINGS HONOR TO GOD.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read Proverbs 14:21-22, 31.

Verse of the Day: “He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God” (Proverbs 14:31, NIV).

“Grandma! Grandma!” Ty ran into the storeroom of the small restaurant his grand­mother had owned and run ever since he could remember.

“Ty,” Grandma said, “who’s watching the cash register?” Ty was supposed to be running the cash register. He sometimes helped his grandma after school.

“I asked Holly to cover for me real quick,” he explained. “Grandma, that man-the one with the long beard-he left without paying.”

“Uh-huh,” Grandma said, sounding disinterested.

“Should I catch him? Should I call the police? Wh-what should I do?” he stammered in a frantic tone.

“What?” Grandma asked, then before Ty could repeat himself, she said, “Oh, never mind him.”

“But you can’t just let him walk out without paying!”

“He never pays,” Grandma said.

“What!” Ty cried. “You mean he’s done this before?”

Grandma turned away from her work counting cans and took Ty’s face in both of her hands. “That’s Old Elmer,” she said. “He’s an old man with no family and no money. He comes in two or three times a week for a bowl of soup and some crackers. Been coming here since before your grandpa died.”

“You just let him eat without paying?” Ty asked.

“Well, sure,” Grandma said. “Wouldn’t you?”

“But Grandma, you can’t afford to just give food away,” Ty protested. “You’ve got a business to run.”

“And I’ve always done just fine, haven’t I?” she answered. “Old Elmer isn’t going to eat me out of my restaurant. Besides, I can’t help it. When I see him eating his soup at that corner table-the same table every time he comes in-I feel like the smile of God just fills this place. It sure fills my heart to know I’m helping Elmer out.”

Ty’s eyes fastened on his grandmother. He had always loved and respected her, but never more than at this moment. He understood now more than ever why so many people seemed to think his grandma was special.

Because she was.

TO DISCUSS: What did Grandma’s act of being kind to Old Elmer do for Elmer? What did her own kindness do for her? How does being kind to the needy honor God? How does being kind provide a good reputation? What other blessings and benefits come from being kind to others?

TO

PRAY: “Jesus, we want to honor your name by being kind to everyone we meet.’

I Don’t Understand

I Don’t Understand

OBEYING GOD’S COMMANDS-EVEN WHEN WE DON’T UNDERSTAND THEM­IS SMART.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read Joshua 6:1-16, 20.

Verse of the Day: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

Molly and James leaned forward with excitement. They were on their way to their cousins’ new house in the country.

“I can’t wait to see the animals they have,” Molly said. Their cousins had told them about their stable, where they kept many different kinds of animals.

“I wish they had horses,” James said.

“Yeah, that’s like the only kind of animal they didn’t get,” Molly answered. “Daddy, what’s a rhea?”

Dad looked up from the map he held in his lap as he waited for a traffic light to change. “Huh?” he said, then suddenly realizing he had heard her question, he answered, “I don’t know, honey. It’s a bird. Some kind of bird.”

The traffic light changed to green, and Dad drove through the intersection, then pulled to the curb in the small town they were in. “That’s odd,” he said, turning to his wife. “Pat said to turn right at the light.”

“What’s odd about that?” Mom asked.

“On the map that looks like the long way around. I should just be able to follow this county road here,” he said, pointing to a line on the map. “It looks a lot easier and quicker going this way.”

“But Pat should know his way around, don’t you think?”

Dad didn’t answer. He steered the car back into the street and began driving again, consulting the map instead of his brother’s directions. After they had driven for about fifteen minutes, Dad came to a stop at an intersection. In front of them the road was blocked. Mom and Dad sat in silence, gazing at the roadblock.

“Are we there yet?” James asked.

“No,” Mom said. “We’re not there yet.”

“Are we lost?” Molly asked.

“No,” Dad answered. “We just found out why Uncle Pat gave us the directions he did.” He turned the steering wheel and headed the car back in the direction from which they’d come. He folded the map as he drove and put it away. “I should have followed his directions in the first place,” he said.

TO DISCUSS: Have you ever gotten lost or confused because you didn’t follow directions? Do you think Joshua and the Israelites fully understood the directions God gave them for conquering Jericho? Did Joshua follow God’s directions anyway? Do you always understand God’s commandments? Do you think it’s better to obey God’s commandments even when you don’t understand them? Why or why not?

TO

PRAY: “Help us, Lord, so that we don’t let pride stand in the way of following your directions.”

How Kind!

How Kind!

KINDNESS-EVEN A SMALL ACT OF KINDNESS-IS GOOD.

Bible Reading of the Day: Read 1 Thessalonians 5:15-24.

Verse of the Day: “Always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else” (1 Thessalonians 5:15, NIV).

Dean’s dad steered the car into the parking space at the Mega Mall, turned the engine off, and opened his door. By the time Dad did all that, Dean was already out of the car.

“Wait a minute, Dean,” Dad said. “Get back in the car for a second.”

Dean did what his dad said but asked, “Why?” as he climbed back in the car.

“Shut your door, please,” Dad said. He started the car again and Dean shut his door. “I did a pretty bad job of parking,” Dad explained. “I realized when I opened my door that I was taking up two parking spaces.”

“So?” Dean responded.

Dad backed up and parked the car again, this time centering it carefully between the yellow lines that marked each parking space. “Well, Son,” he said, “I parked in the closest space I could find, and there was another space right next to it. If I took two spaces, that means that someone else would have to walk farther—maybe much farther-to get to the mall.”

“Well, yeah,” Dean said. “People do that all the time.”

“I know, but once I noticed what I’d done, don’t you think it would have been unkind to make someone walk farther just because I did a poor job of parking?”

Dean shrugged. “But you’d never know who had to walk farther.”

They got out of the car again and started walking to the mall.

“The fact that I don’t know a person doesn’t give me the right to be unkind,” Dad continued.

“I guess you’re right,” Dean said. “But it seems like such a small thing.” “It is,” Dad said. “But the difference between kindness and unkindness is often in the small things.”

“I get what you’re saying,” Dean said. “It’s like this-” He jogged a few steps ahead of his father and opened the door to the mall. He made a grand sweeping gesture with his left hand while holding the door open with his right.

“Why, thank you, Dean,” Dad said. “How kind of you!”

Dean nodded grandly as he followed his dad into the mall. “I thought so too,” he

said.

TO DO: Be alert for an opportunity to show a small act of kindness to someone in the next twenty-four hours. Be prepared to report your act to your family tomorrow.

TO

PRAY: “Lord, we want to be kind and loving. Show us the opportunities we have for doing so this week.”