Saturday, March 14, 2009

The ripple effect of kindness

I got my annual royalty check yesterday. Lori and I went out to dinner with it. Actually the check was for $120 and represents the sale of 169 copies of my Church Newsletter Handbook in 2008. When I told Lori about it she commented that it is pretty amazing that the book is still going twelve years after it was printed.

I had to laugh because most of us never consider how long the ripple effects of the things we do will continue to last. When we buy a friend lunch or stop in and visit a colleague in the hospital it often seems like a short lived, one time event. Yet the ramifications of that act of kindness continue to be felt over time. How many of us remember when we have been touched by the good will of another. It affects and even changes our life. It makes us a better person because we have been shaped by that simple act.

John Donne wrote "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." In essense he was reminding us that we are all connected. That is why when we live with the love of Christ in our heart and let it flow out through our action it can transform the world we live in.

This is our calling as Christians. We are called to be transformers. It begins in doing the little things. Our loving acts will continue to grow and be passed on long after we are gone.

Cal

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