K is for Kindness

          The drive through line was crowded with cars, all wanting to get their coffee and rush to work that morning. Having fasted before getting blood drawn an hour before, I was as anxious as the next person to get to the front of the line to order my non-fat, no-whip, grande mocha. There were two lines in the parking lot merging into one. I waited patiently (or not so patiently) to merge into the ordering line. When it was my turn, I pulled out and turned my steering wheel to veer into the left lane. Out of nowhere, up barreled a large black SUV, the kind that could hold a whole soccer team. She drove faster than me, and without so much as giving me a glance, she plowed in front of me and took the coveted position in the ordering line.

            Had my kids been with me, one of them would have said, “Mom, why didn’t you honk at her?”  I was more worried about slamming on my brakes and not smashing into the side of her door, than honking. As she flew by me, I noticed right away she was talking on her phone. Of course she was. She never saw me, neither did she know I had been waiting for what seemed like hours, but was probably only fifteen minutes. She had no idea there had been two lines for the past 25 cars and it was my turn. She was oblivious to everything around her. How selfish, I thought to myself.

            Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm my racing heart at the near miss of smashing metal that almost ruined my morning. As I pulled in behind her, I wondered if I had hit her on the driver’s side door, would an insurance company deem that my fault.  Even though she had her phone up to her ear, clearly driving too fast into the parking lot, and obviously not paying attention as she drove, somehow I thought I would be faulted if I crashed into her. The unfairness of that potential situation consumed my mind as I pulled up to order my coffee.

            I rolled down my window to order. Instead of the normal ‘What can I get started for you?’ greeting, the voice in the box sounded surprised and pleased.

 “Ma’am, the car in front of you wants me to tell you she is very sorry she cut you off, and would like for you to order anything on the menu and she will pay for it.”

            Wow! I was stunned. Somehow she realized it had been my turn, and I had been waiting, and she felt bad for barreling in front of me. I smiled and mouthed thank you as I waived at the back of her vehicle. She waived back looking into her review mirror.

            Kindness. Don’t you love acts of kindness? They make me feel as good inside when I give them, as when I am on the receiving end.

            Don’t you know God loves acts of kindness too? No matter what our misguided world says about Him being a ‘gotcha God’ the truth is kindness originated with Him. Kindness is one of the fruits of His spirit. It is the very nature of God to be kind. One of my favorite verses in the Bible says,

“It is God’s kindness that leads to repentance.” Romans 2:4

And most of the time, God shows his kindness to others, through us.

What act of kindness have you seen lately?