Day 20 – Kind

The other day as I went through my routine of dropping the kids off at school and my dive into personal fitness (so I don’t pull any muscles getting out of bed), I noticed that the car was on “E.” The tank being on empty is not uncommon in my household, and quite frankly could be considered nonverbal communication from my wife reminding me that she needs me and loves me. At least that is her story, and she is sticking to it.

As I pulled into the gas station and swiped my life savings and 401K to fill my tank up, I noticed a man digging through the trash. I thought, “maybe he is hungry!” Lucky for him, or so I thought, I had some extra snacks from the soccer game in bags and I thought “this would be NICE,” so I offered the snacks to him.

Me: “Excuse me sir, would you like some snacks.”

Man: “No, I don’t need snacks. I need money! The church around the corner (La Sierra University Church) provides us with all the food we need.”

My initial feeling was “how ungrateful.” Here I am, trying to do something NICE, and this is the response I get.

I immediately called my mom to vent. “Can you believe what this guy I said?”

Then I had to reconcile within myself, “Was I being KIND or was I being NICE?”

You see, sometimes we believe being NICE and being KIND are one in the same, but they’re not. Being NICE is easy. Being KIND takes intention.

The Blackburn Center states, “As the result of social conditioning and expectations on how we should act, in many ways, these unofficial rules are a good thing, leading us to be polite and helping us avoid conflict. Yet too often, niceness is prioritized over true kindness.” Kindness is a quality that requires intention, action, and must be practiced daily with sincerity. If we reflect on Jesus’ teaching, we see intention, we see action, and we see profound changes in human lives.

About two years ago our daughter, Saliyah, was “hounding” us for a dog (pun intended). My wife said, “Sure Saliyah, you can get a dog, if you can find one that meets the following requirements.”

1. Does not shed.

2. Must be small.

3. Does not bark! (Seriously).

Well, Saliyah and I set forth on our quest to find the proverbial “needle in the haystack.” By “haystack,” I mean, literally, stacked hay, not the Adventist go-to meal at Pathfinders. It would not be good if we found a needle in one of those haystacks.

Well, we were able to find that “needle,” which is now lovingly known as Panda Panda, the Cavapoo love-puppy.

One day we were in a rush to get out of the house, and as usual, we left Panda in garage, except this time, Panda had other plans, that did not include hanging out in the garage. When we returned to the house later that evening, my wife noticed that Panda was not in the garage and he had not eaten his food.

We both went into search and rescue mode. “Panda Panda,” we yelled at the top of our lungs, trying to locate this little guy. During our search, one of our neighbors heard us and said, “I think someone posted on Facebook that they had found a lost dog.”

My wife immediately logged on to Facebook and, sure enough, there was our Panda Panda, with a host of suitors willing to give him a new home if the owners could not be found.

We contacted our neighbors and met them in front of their house. Their whole family came out holding Panda and gushing on what a good puppy he was. They then proceeded to tell us that they had found Panda sitting in our front yard, but were worried he might be eaten by coyotes (he must have been patiently awaiting our return). This family proceeded to tell us that they had gone to the vet to see if he was chipped and posted signs in the community with Panda’s picture, notifying the community that he was a lost dog that had been found.

We could not have been more grateful as the new addition to our family was found and returned. We thanked God for our neighbors! They were not only NICE, but they were also KIND.

Be KIND!