A Simple Act of Kindness

A simple act of kindness can change a person's whole day.
What was once dark, dismal, and gray, you can make gay.
It doesn't take much effort to impart something magnificent.
I must tell you that a kind word has much force, far from insignificant.

A simple act of kindness can be the difference between roads traveled,
for instance, to a troubled person needing a lift out of sinking gravel.
If you could save a life or a soul by giving a heartfelt greeting, I know you would.
Or, stop to say: "Are you okay?" to a soul that was needing.

A simple act of kindness can put color back into a grimacing face;
Move someone from self-destruction and self-hate,
So they can find redemption in God's loving grace.
It need not be your life's work, but it can give worth to someone else's life:
Turn away from strife to a place where hope is rife.

A simple act of kindness can bridge the chasm between enemies;
Put aside pride and ambition so children can grow with fonder memories.
Our differences are so minute when likenesses are tallied,
That comforting a sick child is salient, no matter creed or malady.

A simple act of kindness can bring distance short;
When families are vexed and mouths speak of tort.
The irony of our Human frailties can be abated with kindness,
to put an end to senseless acts of depravity, and to visceral violence.



--N Andrew DaCosta

Order of Things

There is a rightful order found
Beyond the things that seem to be,
Something beneath the surface seen
Hidden behind prevalent schemes.

I know this fact through feelings felt
in such relief that come to mind,
When in life I do my bit
And leave results to Spirit's will.

There is a rightful order found
In which Spirit our lives arrange,
Giving us what we rightly earn
With precision in circumstance,

Designed to rhyme and meet somehow
In a rightful order, time, and place.

-Author Unknown

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it all on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings--nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!

--Rudyard Kipling

The Final Analysis

People are often unreasonable, illogical,and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, People may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;

Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;

Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight.

Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.
The good you do today,people will often forget tomorrow;

Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have,and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis,it is between you and God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

Kent Keith

Harsh Words

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
“Oh excuse me please” was my reply.
He said, “Please excuse me too;
I wasn’t watching for you.”
We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way saying good-bye.
But at home a difference is told,
how we treat our loved ones, young and old.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.
As I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
“Move out of the way,” I said with a frown.
He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn’t realize how harshly I’d spoken.
While I lay awake in bed,
God’s still small voice came to me and said,
“While dealing with a stranger,common courtesy you use,
But the children you love, you seem to abuse.
Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You’ll find some flowers there by the door.
Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.
He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
and you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.”
By this time, I felt very small,
and now my tears began to fall.
I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
“Wake up, little one, wake up,” I said.”
Are these the flowers you picked for me?”
He smiled, “I found ‘em, out by the tree.
I picked ‘em because they’re pretty like you.
I knew you’d like ‘em, especially the blue.”
I said, “Son, I’m very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn’t have yelled at you that way.”
He said, “Oh, Mom, that’s okay. I love you anyway.”
I said, “Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue.”

Author Unknown

Tomorrow

Tomorrow smile at someone
That you've never seen before.
Take time to think of others that
You feel compassion for.

Tomorrow tell somebody
How they brighten up your day.
Let random acts of kindness
Put your feelings on display.

Tomorrow hug your children
Somewhat tighter than before.
Be sure to think of all the things
You can be thankful for.

Pat your dog a little longer.
Hug and kiss your husband/wife.
Thank God for granting you
Another day of life.

-Michael Mack