Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard.  

Anne Sexton, from Letter Written on a Ferry.

This message was written on a London Underground noticeboard in a tube station in the capital of Great Britain. Kindness is truly one of the greatest gifts you can give to each other.  I have witnessed many random acts of kindness in Redding, California. From people donating to students who needed financial support to a pastor collecting shoes, slippers, toothpaste, soap and other essential items for the homeless. They say that a random act of kindness is a nonpremeditated, inconsistent action designed to offer kindness towards the outside world. ‘ These are truly moments of compassion.

Growing up in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), I was blessed to have a grandfather who showed the love of Christ to the poorest of the poor – the Rodi community in Sri Lanka – there were those who did not want to know them or help them as they were deemed almost inferior…

Our time always shortening.
What we cherish always temporary. What we love
is, sooner or later, changed…
Giving thanks for what we are allowed
to think about it, grateful for it even as it wanes…
And occasionally the bright sound of broken glass.
All of it a blessing. The being there. Being alive then.
Like a giant bell ringing long after you can’t hear it.

~ Jack Gilbert, excerpt from “Burma” from Refusing Heaven

Notes: Poem via Mythology of Blue. Photo: Maximus Audacious of Bell