You have charged us
….to keep your commandments carefully.
Oh, that my actions would consistently
….reflect your decrees!
As I learn your righteous regulations,
….I will thank you by living as I should!
I will obey your decrees.
….Please don’t give up on me! Psalm 119:4-5, 7-8 NLT

********

Friday morning as I pulled up to the stop sign waiting to pull out onto the state route to begin my elementary bus route, I looked to my left and saw a vehicle just pulling past Sparta, the village closest to the school. I could easily have pulled out with plenty of room to spare…but I didn’t. I don’t know anyone who likes to get stuck behind a school bus – myself included! So, I didn’t pull out but let them go past me and then pulled out.

I had no sooner done so when glancing forward, the vehicle now driving ahead of me flashed their brake lights three times. To me, it was a “thank you”, I often do the same thing. Maybe it wasn’t the intent of the gesture but I’m taking it that way. Often in life, it’s the little things that matter. It was obvious that the other driver knew that I didn’t have to wait for them to pass, but as they pulled away going faster than I was, they were grateful that I had allowed them to go on their way unhindered by my “speed-limit-abiding” driving.

Sometimes it’s the little things that impact our lives most. A kind act buoys up our day. And any kindness perpetrated, no matter how small, changes a person and we truly have no idea the trajectory the recipient’s life might take.

OK…that’s one side of my thoughts, but the other side has the same results – impact and change of trajectory – yet involves different characters. Humanity is on the receiving end, but God is the perpetrator of kindness. Every day, we are the recipients of His kindness – evil and good, just and unjust alike.

Jesus proclaimed in Matthew 5:43-45,

“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.

Kindness is not just a nice sentiment – and before we go any further let’s use a stronger word for what kindness truly is – love.

Once again, every day God loves us in an infinite number of ways. Some of those ways we comprehend, we see, we understand. In other ways that God shows us His love, we simply have no clue. He just does. And because He does, our lives are forever changed. They are eternally impacted, and a change of trajectory takes place…and all for the better!

So my suggestion would be to tap your brakes a couple of times, each and every day…it’s the least you can do to say “thank you”!

Mar 26th, 2023, Sun, 7:11 pm