Kindness

I’ve seen two examples of kindness that have made me stop and think and have changed my heart.. When Zac was 14 months old, we took him for the fist time to visit his grandparents in the USA. That was a flight we (Lisa and I) will never forget, but one Zac will never remember! Four hours in to an eleven hour flight, Zac fitted and we thought he had died. There was a San Diego fireman sitting behind us and he jumped into action. He assured us that Zac was breathing and he checked his vital signs to make sure he was ok. The next seven hours of the flight were awful not knowing what was wrong with him and wondering what was going to happen when we landed. When we landed I went with Zac straight to the children’s hospital of Orange County because he fitted again while we were still on the plane. He spent three days there having a multitude of tests. Turns out there was nothing seriously wrong with him and he’s been fine ever since! The kindness I saw during that flight, and afterwards, came from one man. He was a US Army soldier travelling to Hawaii. He spoke to us at the start of the flight when Zac was unsettled and offered to help us. He spoke to us again during the flight and again offered to help. He ‘phoned Lisa’s dad from the plane (he knew how to do that as an Army man) and he asked his wife to contact us after we had left the plane to see how we were and how Zac was as he was travelling on to Hawaii and couldn’t do it himself. Six months later, yes six months later, when he had finished his tour of Hawaii, he ‘phoned us to ask us how we were and how Zac was. He said it was the worst day of his life watching us go through all that we had on the plane and he had to know how we all were. Amazing kindness. Last week Lisa and I were in the USA again, this time to visit her dad who is in the end stages of life. I watched as Lisa and her brother Bryce extended kindness to their dad in many and varied ways. Larry is not able to eat or speak so communicating is difficult, They sat together so he could share memories of times they have spent together and of their shared family history. Knowing it is the last time you will see you dad alive is hard. Knowing you have to leave and knowing you won’t see him again is hard. Trying to put off the last moments of time together is hard. But to give time to someone in those moments with all the emotion you carry in your heart is a great act of kindness. It would be easier not to be there and be confronted with the hard truth. But perhaps, in those moments it is the greatest gift you can give a person and a great act of kindness. I was privileged to witness it. It was both beautiful and hard to watch in equal measure. When we see kindness like that, our hearts are moved. Romans 2 v 4 tells us that God’s kindness is intended to move our hearts to turn towards him. If my heart can be changed by watching the kindness of others, how can it not be changed when I reflect on God’s kindness towards me. And how can yours not be?