A Random Act of Kindness

Was it just me, or were the rest of listeners tuned into Radio 2 this morning surprised to hear Davina McCall standing in for Ken Bruce? In any case my surprise turned more favourable when I heard her talk about one of the features she’s running – performing random acts of kindness. She’s getting people up and down the country to perform random acts of kindness to complete strangers. For her part she’d bought a packet of chocolate biscuits for the security staff at the Beeb and presented them on her way to work. Later on, a viewer called in to say a group of lads in the car in front of her at a toll both paid her fee and then drove off – and apparently she wasn’t a beautiful blonde that one of them fancied!

The power of kindness is a much underrated quality in society today. We are all taught to look after our own ends and to take care of number one. Yet kindness is such an enriching virtue for both the giver and receiver. Many of my friends live generously, and I should know for I’ve often been the recipient of their kindness. And kindness is not just about money – it expresses itself in many forms like consideration, thoughtfulness and time for example. As Jesus himself said, ‘It is much better to give than it is to receive’. Held within those comments is one of the real keys to happiness. We must determine to be ruthless in our generosity if we are to be freed from the trap of the modern western lifestyle.

Steve Chalke recently wrote of an elderly friend who had helped him a great deal during his teens and early twenties. Prior to his death, on one of his frequent visits, his ageing friend gave him this advice. “Always remember,” he said, “that everyone you meet is struggling in some way. Everyone has a burden to bear. Therefore seek to lighten their load rather than add to it. Try to ensure that, as a result of meeting with you, they are left feeling better, not worse, about life, themselves and others.” It’s not too much to ask is it – to lighten the burden of others through our words, thoughts and actions. And it’s not something we need to leave for others to do. The only abilities required for such a task is to heed the advice from the Apostle Paul who wrote, ‘Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.’ Now there’s some advice we could all do well to heed – including those in the Big Brother House. What do you reckon, Davina?

Heart Rules OK

 

Some time back I was sitting in our denominational leadership conference listening to a debate centred round the future of the movement. The debate sided between those in favour of transformation and those who preferred a more traditional approach. Each speaker was given five minutes to add their point of view and the debate alternated between those for change and those against it. About half way through one of the ministers who favoured the traditional route stood up and addressed the conference with these words, ‘At this time, I believe it would be unwise if we got ourselves into the situation where we allowed our hearts to rule over our heads’. The friend sitting next to me leaned over and said, ‘But is there any other way to live?’

Certainly, the majority of big decisions in my life have been decisions of the heart ruling over the head. Falling in love for starters – the head didn’t have much involvement in that one! Buying our home was another situation. When we walked into the house where we now live it was a heart decision that caused us to purchase it – we loved the property. Again, a couple of year’s back I bought a Ford Mondeo car with a 2.5 V6 engine in it – that was definitely a decision of the heart. And when I talk about it, even now I find myself saying, ‘I loved driving that car’. We’re always ‘falling in love’ with things. Someone will say to the girl in the new dress, ‘Hey, I love your new outfit.’ Hardly ever do they say, ‘Hey, I find your dress aesthetically pleasing to my eye which has sent a shudder of pleasure to the electrical neurons centred in my brain.’ We just don’t say things like that because our judgements are not made at that level. We know what we love because our heart tells us we love it.

In fact, when you think about it, all the memories you build through life tend to be over the heart decisions you have made. Some of them work out and others don’t. But that which brings fulfilment and lasting enjoyment tends to come from the times when you have allowed your heart to rule over your head. It’s probably a more dangerous yet more meaningful way to live. After all, there is a danger with the heart that you don’t have with the mind and that is you run the risk of it getting broken. To run the risk of high pleasure you equally carry the danger of great pain. C.S. Lewis explained it in this way: ‘Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket–safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.’ And that is the risk we face if we choose to live from the head rather than the heart. Calculated decisions that lead to calculated results but which leave little room for love.

God is not a scientist – and if he is, he is not a scientist first. First and foremost God is a lover. He lives from the heart, and as I see it from the scriptures he asks us to do the same. So next time you have a decision to make, make sure you know what your heart is saying – somebody might be trying to tell you something.