Small Kindnesses by Danusha Laméris
I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead—you first,” “I like your hat.”
What is it like to consider that everyday kindness, expressed in tiny moments, might be the true dwelling place of the holy?
What is it like to consider that these are holy?
As I read this poem, I am reminded of the seemingly small kindness that I have been shown by my daughter over the past few days of intentional hugs. She is not a touch love language person, but she knows that I am and she has been intentional to the point of setting alarms to come and hug me - a proper, long "I love you" hug. To me, it is like being refuelled after a time of running on fumes. I feel my system settle, the presence of peace blossoms and I have a sense of resource where there was exhaustion. It seems like a small thing, but it really isn't. It is genuine kindness and comes from a place where there is "nothing in it for her". It is a gift that comes from her heart. As I contemplate this intentional act of kindness I am prompted to consider what small kindness I am drawn to make in the coming week. I thank God for His kindness to me and ask for the grace of awareness, to notice His small kindnesses all around me.
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