Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Be Kind

(leaf in my driveway, November 2014)
This morning I lay in my bed, my girlies snuggled in on either side.
I thought of something that happened last night, and a quote I discovered in the last couple of years that I love.
After we read a chapter and said prayer and the kids were settled into bed, I knelt on the floor in my room, folding laundry.  I am better these days at letting that wait, but it had become a mountain in the corner of my room, and I wanted that mountain gone.
I folded a while, and then got up and noticed (again) the super full trash bin in the downstairs bathroom.  
Decided it was time to tend to that.
I gathered all the trash in the house and headed outside to put it in the trash can.

As I opened my back gate, my trash can had already been taken out to the street.
Instantly, I felt love.
There are a couple of elderly gentlemen that live across the street from me.  
Without me asking, without a word, they have begun to do these types of things for me.
They take my trash cans out, and they bring them in.
On the few snowy mornings we have had this winter (it has been such an odd year!), I've found my driveway cleared, opened my front door to one of them shoveling my sidewalks up to my door.

One of the books I read a couple years ago was I'm Proud of You, a book about the author's friendship with Fred Rogers and I loved it.
Then, some time later, stumbled on this quote.
It has stuck with me ever since; it's one of my favorites.  

"There are three ways to ultimate success:
The first way is to be kind.
The second way is to be kind.
The third way is to be kind."
(Fred Rogers)

The kindness of my friends warmed my heart as I walked out to the street in the dark last night.
Never a word to me.
Always quiet, and I miss them most times.
They come and give love, and then they go.

But their gift isn't wasted.
I feel it deep inside.
I am stirred by their simple service.
Makes me recommit, in my heart, to wanting to live a life of goodness, of sharing love.
I fall short, and I mess up, but Fred Rogers' simple words inspire me forward.

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