Canadian Drive-By / Random Acts of Kindness

How many times have you done something nice for someone just out of the blue? Has someone done something for you too? Isn't it a wonderful feeling? It's like the spirit of Christmas all year long.

In this often depressing, selfish and dreary world it's wonderful to witness those random acts of kindness that give us back our faith in the goodness of humanity. And today I've had a couple of different stories come across my desk I wanted to share. My friend Jean posted a video about her son just stopping to help someone stuck in a wheelchair and then another story about someone paying for a fee at an airport. I know that in years past I've paid for the person behind me in the line at Tim Hortons (coffee shop) and I've had people leave me small gifts anonymously. One Christmas we got a delivery of presents for our whole family dropped off by a man in a Santa Suit who could sure run while yelling Ho Ho Ho. See, there are good things happening in the World, you just need to find them or do some yourself.

Here's the video and the article link. Both well worth reading. Whether you are here in Canada or anywhere on planet Earth, doing something anonymously or selflessly is just a wonderful example to our children of the way the world could be if we put other people first. Kindness, it's learned.

Don't Look Back - Sunday Message for Nov 5th, 2011

Dwelling on the past and the mistakes we've made doesn't allow us to fully live in the present and limits our ability to be truly happy. While we can and should, learn from our mistakes, dwelling on them just drags us down and is incredibly counter productive. Let's face the facts...everyone screws up. Call it sin, a mistake, whatever...do what you need to do so that you're not dragging around any more emotional baggage than necessary. We human beings are here on the planet to learn, grow and experience joy. There's not a vengeful God just waiting to get us, there's a loving one who gives us our free agency so that we can make our own choices and experience both the good and bad that comes from that. Sometimes that means we have to live with the consequences of somebody else's actions but that's part of the whole 'freedom to choose' plan and sometimes it's not fair. But dwelling on the negative all the time doesn't allow us to see all the good in the world around us. The beauty in nature, a smile from a stranger, the birds singing in the trees, somebody doing a favour for you. No matter how bad you think your life may be...I guarantee there are lots of blessings you've got and more to come. So cheer up. Work at recognizing and counting your blessings. If you have a bad day...well there's always tomorrow to start over again.

And don't look back...there's nothing you need there anyways.



This applies to moving. We miss some things from BC, and the temptation to compare the old with the new is strong. But we are choosing to embrace the future with open arms and to open ourselves to the opportunities that lie ahead of us and live for the future...it's full of wondrous possibilities.