“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention” (Oscar Wilde)
Back in the early 1930s, William Stidger, a well-known American author and minister, who published twenty-two volumes of prose and two of poetry was hanging out with a group of friends in a restaurant. Before long, they started talking about the Depression, how the rich are committing suicide, thousands jobless, children starving etc. The conversation got more and more miserable as time went on until a minister in the group piped in and said, “In a couple of weeks time I’m preaching a sermon on ‘Thanksgiving Day’ and I haven’t got a clue what I’ll be doing but I want to say something encouraging though. What can I say that will lift people’s hearts at a time of depression like this?
Stidger felt like God spoke to him right there and then: “Why don’t you give thanks to those people who have been a blessing in your life and encourage them during this terrible time?”
As he thought about it, a schoolteacher very dear to him, came to mind. She was the one who instilled him a love of poetry and English literature which even impacted how he preached! So he sat down and wrote to the woman who is very old by now. In only a matter of days, he received a reply from her, “My Dear Willy…” Stidger was 50 years of age, bald and no one had called him Willy for a long time. Her opening words warmed his heart. Here’s the rest of the letter:
“I can’t tell you how much your note meant to me. I am in my eighties, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely, and like the last of leaf of autumn lingering behind. You’ll be interested to know that I taught in school for more than fifty years, and yours is the first note of appreciate I ever received. It came on a blue, cold morning, and it cheered me as nothing has done in many years”.
Stidger later reflected, “I’m not sentimental, but I found myself weeping over that note”.
Then he remembered a kindly bishop, now retired and an old man who recently lost his wife and was all alone. This bishop had invested lots of time in Stidger, provided him much counsel, support and love when he started out his ministry. So he wrote to the old bishop and two days later, a reply came back.
“My Dear Will, Your letter was so beautiful, so real, that as I sat reading it in my study, tears fell from my eyes, tears of gratitude. Before I realized what I was doing, I rose from my chair and I call her name to share it with her, forgetting she was gone. You’ll never know how much your letter has warmed my spirit. I have been walking around in the glow of your letter all day long”.
These stories remind us there is no such thing as a small act of gratitude/kindness!
During this month of thanksgiving, why don’t you get with God and ask Him to help you remember people who have been a gift to you. Then, take a moment and write them a note of thanks, appreciation and encouragement. If you have their number, tell them in person. If you have lost touch with this person, do some investigation. If there’s a will, there’s a way.
Following Jesus,
Mark
Recent Comments