Words MatterSample

Kindness Disrupts

We pour ourselves out
Into so many cups
But in the mundane
Kindness disrupts

With any act of random kindness, you don’t necessarily get to stick around and see the impact it had. But one day I almost did. I visited a nearby college and stealthily placed encouraging poems on car windows in one of the parking lots. As I was driving away, I caught a glimpse of a girl, arms full of textbooks, walking out to her car.

It looked like she was getting ready to study, which, on the weekend, is never fun. I hoped she would walk to a car with a poem on it that would maybe give her a lift as she did her work. She approached one of the poem-covered cars with haste, and then she stopped as if an invisible force had disrupted her motion.

I smiled as I drove away, knowing kindness disrupts. Unfortunately, it’s not normal. Typically, when you find a piece of paper on your car window, it’s a parking ticket or an annoying flyer. However, when you pick up that piece of paper and see that it's a poem, it catches you off guard. Your defense mechanisms are deactivated and a smile replaces your unconscious frown.

Jesus lived a very disruptive life. People were expecting a warrior king, and he came as a swaddled savior. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. There’s one time where Jesus was on his way to heal a synagogue ruler’s dying daughter and paused midway to heal a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years.

Jesus didn’t do what was expected. He did what was necessary. Constantly surrounded by cynicism, our communities are craving kindness. Rather than sharing more darkness, change the narrative. Do what is necessary: Be kind. Make a difference.

How will you step outside of your comfort zone today and share kindness with someone in need?

Writing Prompt: Write four poems based on the idea that you’ve met the person before who’s going to receive what you wrote. What do you admire about that person? What about that person inspires you?