“The best portion of a good man’s life: his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.” William Wordsworth

Friday’s snow ten days ago was followed by last Monday’s storm, each accumulation of snow at four inches. Tuesday Bible study cancelled, again. We cleared the driveway, again, but due to ice, stayed home and watched the livestream of Wednesday night’s Advent service. Awaking to freezing cold on Thursday morning, I saw this scene out my office window: the morning sun illuminating the Three Ridges Wilderness Area, and later the evening sunset. How big God’s acts, I mused. He gave us the light, His son and the Gospels. How our little acts of kindness and love can be, to become that light to others. 

Neighbors’ little acts of kindness

We are blessed with two neighbors who tend our mountain road and driveways: one primary, the other his backup. The morning after the first storm, an elderly neighbor called me for help: his furnace was out, the repair man couldn’t get up the road, and he’d lost our plow neighbor’s phone number. A quick text, and our plow neighbor swung into action. The road was cleared by early afternoon. A little act of kindness and love. 

After the second storm, a new neighbor emailed an all-call: his HVAC service person needed safe passage up the road and his driveway. Another little act of kindness later, and the service person was able to keep the appointment. 

Sometimes we miss little acts of kindness opportunities. All the more reason to watch and listen for those nudges.

Fred Rogers on little acts of kindness

Fred Rogers often told this story: “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” Helpers submit to others, that is, putting their own comforts and agendas aside. Helpers submit to their God-given missions. Helpers submit to authority, human authority as Jesus did, and God’s authority: Thy will, not mine, whether big or little.

In Tom Junod’s article “What Would Mister Rogers Do?” published in the December 2019 issue of The Atlantic, Junod told the story about a conversation he had with Fred Rogers about a school shooting—an all-too-common occurrence in today’s news. Instead of focusing on the shootings, Rogers attended to the young shooter who had told his classmates he was going to do something “really big.” Rogers said, “Oh, wouldn’t the world be a different place if he had said, ‘I’m going to do something really little tomorrow’?”

What if we got up each morning and said, I’m going to do some little act of kindness and love today? Which takes us to something else Fred Rogers said: “Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like ‘struggle.’” 

Little acts of kindness on social media

Here’s one of my current struggles. Last summer, I contracted with a digital marketer to help me reach my target audience: women of faith in the second half of life. The number of views, interactions, and followers from those posts became heady. 

Then a post from ten days ago attracted unimaginable attention—see graphic at right. The clip showed me shaking a loaf out of my bread machine—voila—and the message was from my article about identity and boundaries based on Cheryl Bridges Johns’ book on menopause. “Johns rightly observes: ‘Boundary-conscious people are more secure, more accepting of themselves and others. They are not always nice, but they are more frequently kind.’ In my experience, nice was often part of my first-half-of-life mask and less honest than the kindness that comes more naturally these days. My mature, second-half-of-life self is more respectful and forgiving of myself and others.” 

A little act of kindness and love about kindness and love. But again, as the numbers rose, I struggled to keep that reel of questioning going in my head: “Is the message I’m sowing pleasing to God? Am I on the right path, Lord? Shine Your light. Show me Your way.” And He did with that nudge. So, I respond to comments with encouragement, for they are my neighbors, and to some, I am the helper. Even on—maybe especially on—social media.

Notes from Vanaprastha Podcasts on my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CaroleDuff