National Random Acts of Kindness Day

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National Random Acts of Kindness Day | Columbia SC Moms BlogFebruary 17 is National Random Acts of Kindness Day. I just love being surprised with random acts of kindness. Don’t you? 

The last time I experienced this was when my two oldest daughters cleaned our entire downstairs last Saturday morning while I was still asleep to surprise me. I was happily surprised! The awesome thing about random acts of kindness is that they don’t have to happen with a stranger. You can perform random acts of kindness for your family! What better way to be an example of love to our children? After all, we just celebrated Valentine’s Day.

The kindness of others…

I remember one day when a complete stranger paid for my coffee at the Starbucks drive thru last month. I then blessed the person behind me by paying for their coffee. Not only was this a random act of kindness towards me, but I then “paid it forward” in order to bless someone else. Paying it forward is another way to perform random acts of kindness. 

I will never forget the random act of kindness a few years ago at my local Walmart. We had just started our own business and we we didn’t have any money. We were broke.  I had only necessity food items in my cart because we could not afford any extras. I swiped my debit card thinking that I had enough money to pay for my groceries and I was at least $20 short. My husband forgot to tell me he purchased gas that day, so I honestly thought we had the money in our account. Standing there in a busy store with four kids in tow I was so humiliated. As I was telling the cashier to remove several of the items, an angel appeared {a really nice woman} out of nowhere and handed the cashier the rest of the money to pay for my groceries. I didn’t know what to do or say, so I just gave her a hug and told her thank you so much. My kids still remember and talk about that day.

Acts of kindness you can perform

You may be thinking, “I don’t go to Starbucks so I can’t pay for someone’s coffee” or “I can barely afford my own groceries let alone help someone pay for theirs.” Well, there are plenty of other ways you can perform a random act of kindness. Here are some ideas for you. 

  • Most of the time when I return my shopping cart at Aldi I leave a quarter in the cart. I know it’s only a quarter but it’s my way of showing kindness and love to others in a way that I can afford. You don’t have to be rich to perform an act of kindness!
  • At a friends house for a play date and notice they’ve got some dirty dishes? Why not wash them for them? I had a friend do this for me one day and it was so sweet and helpful. I was very appreciative! Sometimes us mama’s just need an extra hand.
  • When it’s garbage day and you’re bringing your trash can back up, grab your neighbor’s trash can and bring their’s up too. 
  • At the grocery store you can help someone get an item they can’t reach off of a shelf or help an elderly person or a parent juggling multiple children and groceries put their groceries in the car. And how about instead of staring at the mom with the crying/screeming child and giving them dirty looks, you go over and ask if you can help in any way?

There are so many ways we can bless others each day by performing a random act of kindness. We may not think doing “little” things like these will make a difference, but I promise you, they will. 

Have you ever experienced a random act of kindness? What have you done to show kindness?

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