It Started With A Peppermint

Today was a day for running errands; lots of errands, things that just couldn’t wait any longer.  My mother and I set off and began fulfilling the things on our to-do list.  One of our errands included a time of waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more!  Groan!  Would the waiting ever end?  Others were waiting, too.  It was a room filled with boredom, frustration, and growing tension.  Don’t you hate waiting and waiting with no apparent end in sight?

I was sitting on one side of my mother and a young man sat on her other side.  All seats everywhere were filled.  At one point my mother asks me for a mint.  I fish around in my handbag and retrieve a small wrapped peppermint.  She takes it and I pay no further attention.  I don’t see that the wrapper is difficult to open until I hear a voice say, “may I open that for you?”  It was the young man.

I leaned forward and watched as he quickly snapped open the wrapper and handed it back to my Mom.  “I didn’t touch it,” he said, “I’m holding it with the wrapper.

“Yes, I see you are,” answers my mother, “thank you so much.”

“It’s the little things that can be tough,” he said.

From that moment he and my mother began a conversation filled with chuckles and smiles.  Just listening to them made me smile, too.  I glanced at others sitting nearby.  They were caught up in the conversation and grinning at their lighthearted chatter.  There was definitely a lessening of stress in the air and it all started with the simple kindness of opening a peppermint wrapper.

Is kindness that important?  God says something about kindness in Ephesians 4:31-32, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.  Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God though Christ has forgiven you.”

There is nothing in God’s Word that is insignificant.  It’s all equally important.  Therefore, when we have opportunity to obey God’s instruction to simply be kind to someone, we are honoring both God and our fellow man.  One simple kindness blessed, not only my mother, but everyone who could hear the ensuing conversation.  Many people,  who at first appeared as if boredom could be the end of them, were uplifted.  One by one as someone would leave, they would wave, wish everyone well, and we all happily waved and smiled in return.  It turned out to be a lovely afternoon.

There are many things that each of us cannot do, but all of us can “be kind to each other.”  We don’t know what’s going on in someones life, but it might be that a simple kindness could be the difference between hope and despair.  Kindness is never insignificant.