Reflections on 2014, A Year of Being Kind

A Year of Being Kind blog – Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Reflections on 2014, A Year of Being Kind

On the last day of the year, I was kind to my husband. This morning, I picked him up from the gym at the YMCA, where he has a new membership. He wanted to do several errands afterwards, and I was happy to be chauffeur. We also had the opportunity to talk while driving in the car, which is always an enjoyable experience.

This evening, a lady I didn’t even know was kind to me at the grocery store. My bill was $22.22, and I gave the cashier a twenty, two ones, and dug two cents out of my pocket. I was fumbling for the additional twenty cents in all of my various pockets, when the woman behind me very kindly handed two dimes to the cashier for me. “Oh, how kind!” I said, and smiled my friendly smile at her. It wasn’t that I needed the money, since I had another five dollar bill in my wallet. But the woman and I agreed that $22.22 was a significant enough number that it deserved to be paid for in exact change. (And, we smiled at each other as we said that.)

Gee, I must be turning into an old hand at this being-kind-thing! I certainly hope so.

I know that it helps to check the numbers from time to time. I’ve been following the daily readership on this blog, but it also helps to look at the big picture—the macro view. Just to let all my dear readers know, here are several facts and figures on A Year of Being Kind: 365 Days of Service.

In 2014, this blog was viewed about 5,600 times. That’s a lot of views! My viewing audience per day—on the average—ranged from between the low teens to the mid twenties. The busiest day of the year turned out to be June 3^rd, with 87 views.

Two representative posts with a high number of views were Helping, while Saying Good-bye! posted June 2, 2014, and Being of Service for NAMI? Sharing My Story! posted September 5, 2014.

How did people find my blog? People came from a large number of different website, but the top referring sites were Facebook, Twitter, and dailyoffice.org. (Thanks for including A Year of Being Kind in the blogroll, Josh!)

The sands of the hourglass are running out. 2014 is quickly slipping away. But before it completely disappears, I do have a few things to say. I have learned so much through blogging every day this year. I was fairly quick to come up with writing or an article before 2014 started, but now? Even more so. Plus, I’ve increased my ability to seek out ways to help, to be of assistance, to be of service, and—most importantly, to be kind.

Now, what of 2015, you ask? I have been encouraged by my blog in 2014. Yes, I succeeded in writing every day. Quite an accomplishment. I have been even more encouraged by the response to my service, my being helpful and kind. So, I am going to continue, except in a different vein.

I am not sure whether you are familiar with my sister blog, matterofprayerblog.wordpress.com. I started matterofprayer in the fall of 2013. I have been posting to matterofprayer about once a week to every ten days throughout 2014, in addition to A Year of Being Kind. Starting tomorrow, I will shift the focus to matterofprayer. I’m making an addition to the name, too: matterofprayer: a year of everyday prayers.

I was so happy to journey with you on this 365 day journey of being kind. This blog will not suddenly stop, altogether! I will feature “the best of” A Year of Being Kind, to be published about once a week in 2015.

So, visit me at my sister blog, matterofprayer: a year of everyday prayers. And, God willing, I will see what God has in store for me in 2015, as far as prayer is concerned. I wish my dear readers the very best. And, a happy, healthy and blessed new year.

@chaplaineliza

Like what you read? Disagree? Share your thoughts with your loved ones and continue the conversation.

Being A Chauffeur

A Year of Being Kind blog – Saturday, January 4, 2014

Being A Chauffeur

picture credit Tom Brown

I met together with several friends this morning. Earlier this week I offered to chauffeur a senior friend of mine to and from the get-together. Accordingly, I pulled up in front of her apartment at the appointed time. We had a wonderful time in the car, going both to and fro, not to mention a good time of conversation and laughter with our friends.

What a small thing, agreeing to pick up a friend and transport them. Sure, I’ve sometimes done that before. (In my twenties and thirties I drove commercially, including driving a school bus for some years.) I like driving and am good at it. It’s certainly not a difficult thing for me to do. However, with my busy and haphazard schedule for the past few years, I just have not been chauffeuring people much.

Or is it that I haven’t taken the time to offer people rides?

This train of thought led me down a similar path to yesterday’s post. Who is my neighbor? By extension, who am I to offer rides to? I know, I know. I’m already feeling the conviction in my heart. Yes, God. I know You have graciously allowed me and my husband to purchase a good (used) car, and moreover, provided us with money to keep the car in good repair. I am so grateful, really I am! Therefore, You are not asking too much of me to be kind with my car. With a sturdy car like we own, I can pick up or drop off people, run errands or help people out by carting things around. Plus, I make a point of keeping in fairly good shape. (I have adult children—figure out my approximate age from there.) So, I can fetch and carry most things without too much difficulty. This helps with the carting-things-around-part.

Being kind to people seems to be a natural outgrowth to me and my way of thinking and acting. It’s when the kindness is reversed that I get taken aback, and find myself off kilter. What if the shoe were on the other foot? What if I were in need of transportation, or didn’t have access to my car, or sick in the hospital, or immobilized at home? You get the picture. I hope and pray that—number one—I would be willing to call people and ASK for help, and—number two—be gracious enough to RECEIVE the help freely offered and given. After all, I need to give others the opportunity to be of service, too.

During the past few months, a number of people have been gracious to me. Encouraging, helpful, loving, kind. It’s funny. I hadn’t fully thought it out before. But, because of various people and their kindness and graciousness to me, this is part of the reason I am where I am today. Doing what I’m doing, which is 365 days of intentional service.

Chauffeuring is a great start to the year! Let’s see what tomorrow will bring. God, help me be open, willing and ready.

@chaplaineliza