Unexpected Kindness

Photo courtesy of Tom Keenan at Lightstock.

I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them. 

-Hosea 11:4 

Unexpected kindness is something I have not witnessed in the recent months, until yesterday. I was in the grocery store trying to find some ice cream with which to mix my son's antibiotic and my arms were already full. I didn't get a basket when I entered the store because I didn't think I would be purchasing that much.

Well, you know how that goes. After you walk through so many aisles you see more things you need or probably more accurately, just want. One of the most tempting treats in the grocery store was the 1/2 price Christmas candy. I just couldn't walk past those Hershey's Kisses and M&M's that were on sale without grabbing a bag, especially since I am pregnant; that makes it doubly tempting!

Anyhoo, I am in the ice cream aisle trying to decide what is the best kind of ice cream to purchase for my son. Should I buy something new or stick with something I know works? I notice a teenager and her mom out of the corner of my eye and I hear her say something like, "I want to help her." I didn't think at the moment she was referring to me. I was just trying to balance the fun food I had accumulated in my trek from one side of the store to the other.

After ten minutes of taking ice cream in and out of the freezer, I am still looking. At one point, I dropped the Breyer's Cookies and Cream that I had picked up. I put it back. Do you ever do anything like that? I always struggle with, "Should I purchase it because I dropped it or should I just put it back because it is not something I really want?"

So, I am standing there deciding and this girl, probably about thirteen comes up to me and asks me if I want her cart. I was like, "Sure! Thank you!" I was so shocked that somebody would help me, much less a teenager. I was very grateful because I was carrying so much but also because I had witnessed a child who had some manners and a heart. She saw someone in need and just did a very simple thing by giving me her cart. She and her mom would have had to empty it first and then she would have to bring it back to me. Wow! Kindness...in the grocery store....to somebody you don't know.

Thank you Lord for that demonstration. Thank you Lord for what you are going to do in the girl's life. My prayer for her is that you will bless her and her family and help them to continue on the path of kindness and love. As I got in the car, I told my husband what happened and how I hoped so much that our children would be like that. My hope and desire as a mom is for my children to step outside themselves, recognize a need in others, and be Jesus whenever he leads.

Philippians 2

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. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:.......taking the very nature of a servant...."-Philippians 2:3-5,7

Selfishness. It is a problem today. Why? Because people don't have enough faith in God to get their needs met through Him. They don't know Him well enough. If they did, they would act like Him. Jesus was our example of how to treat others. He loved those He came in contact with. Why was it so easy for those He came in contact with to get healed? I think it was because they knew something about God already, and they believed in His love and compassion. Selfishness, Love, Knowledge, Healing.....it is all connected. My heart's cry is to see the Church look like the book of Acts, not just the Power of God demonstrated through the Holy Spirit. That is something everyone desires, but the Church also has to look like them and Him by the love they demonstrate. Faith works by love. Acts 2:42 "They devoted themselves to the apostle's teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the templecourts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number DAILY those who were being saved." There is so much in this one passage, I could talk for a while. The overall theme though is the love and fellowship which resulted in miracles and the addition of people to the church. It wasn't hard for them to have the Word of God working in their midst.

I feel compelled to connect this to parenting since my blog is called My Journey Through Motherhood. As a parent, there is no room for selfishness. You learn a lot about yourself as a human being when your children are born. You find out how much of life is about you and not about others. When my son was born, I was totally hit with the realization of how much I think about me. My son had basic simple needs and I had no other purpose at that time than to meet those needs, because he couldn't. He still has needs, and now I have two more children who have needs. And I still find traces of selfishness within me throughout this journey of motherhood.

Gluten-Free Diet

It has been extremely difficult just starting to write this blog, even though it is something I wanted to do very much. I wonder if others have had this experience. So, I am on the computer this morning researching gluten-free foods and I thought, "I will just blog about this while it is fresh on my mind and in front of me." We are starting a gluten-free diet in our house because my son has experienced an extreme speech delay. I have read some about it and don't really understand it completely yet, but people suffering with a variety of issues have benefited from it, one group of which is children with autism. My child was diagnosed earlier this year with pdd nos, pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified. It is a diagnosis on the autism spectrum. If you are wondering why I didn't capitalize this diagnosis it is because I don't even respect it enough to give it capital letters. You see, we are Christians, and it is impossible for me to accept this diagnosis. God is a healing God and Jesus took stripes on His back for this sort of thing. So I won't accept it, respect it, etc. I will fight it in whatever way is necessary. God has a plan for my son's life and I am part of that plan. My purpose as his mom is to facilitate a portion of that plan, so I continually try to find things in this natural world that will help him while we continue to believe God's Word as truth. Therefore, I am creating a list of gluten-free foods which we will all implement into our diet. I will keep you posted as this venture progresses. 1 Peter 2:24