Random Act of Kindness - January

On my 2013 Bucket List, I've got a goal to do one random act of kindness per month.

I have a torn heart about sharing my random acts of kindness. I do not want it to seem like I am doing either of the following:

-bragging about myself for completing these random acts of kindness

-convicting others to do the same

The truth is, I firmly believe that God put this desire in my heart, and I will be praying about each random act of kindness. I will be asking Him to guide me to accomplish what He has chosen. 

And I firmly believe that He is performing these acts, with me simply serving as the messenger. 

So I thought long and hard this morning about if I wanted to share this on the blog. 

And I've come to the conclusion that I do. 

Because this is God's glory that I'm sharing here, not my own. 

The past few weeks, I have been jogging my brain about what to do for my January random act of kindness. Pay for the person behind me in a drive thru? Ask a homeless person what their favorite meal is, and buy it for them? Leave a giftcard at Starbucks for a future customer? 

I thought about using Twitter to reach out to others for ideas. But, ultimately put it off for later in the month, figuring that the right opportunity would present itself. 

This morning, I got into my car for work a few minutes earlier than usual, 6:48AM. Fortunately, the drive to work generally takes about 10 minutes. Some commute, huh? 

As I turned my car on, I realized that I had a completely empty tank of gas. Driving home from Bible study last night, I decided to pull my signature move of procrastinating and leaving the gas for the next morning. 

As I was driving to the gas station (about a minute and a half from my house), I was thinking about Jesus. For whatever reason, it was hitting me very strongly just how good He is. Recently, I've been doing a lot of soul searching of my own. God has been ever so gently revealing to me how sinful my heart is, and how often I have ulterior motives to my actions. 

I was thinking about how Jesus never had ulterior motives. How it was simply impossible for Him to deny His perfect nature.

And then it struck me, how in spite of His beautiful heart for others, we still hated Him. Humans, we're quite special aren't we?

I got out to get gas, and for whatever reason, the idea came upon me to purchase a $20 giftcard to leave for the next person who would walk inside to buy gas. I thought about the measly amount sitting in my bank account at the present moment, and watched the dollar amount raise on my own purchase. 

I couldn't fight it. I knew I was being called to perform my January act of kindness. So in I went to purchase the giftcard. 

The choices were $25, $50 or $100, so I chose the amount closest to my original idea. I went outside to snap a quick picture for my own memory, and walked back in to make my request of the cashier. 

A woman was standing next to me while I asked that the giftcard be given to another customer today, as a random act of kindness. She was simply blown away by the act. Before I left, she asked to shake my hand. 

As I left, I said a prayer. I prayed that the woman realize that she was not asking to shake my hand, but Jesus'. I prayed that all those that were a part of this act recognize the originator behind it. 

And I went to work thinking to myself "This is it. This is what it feels like to be an obedient child of Christ."

Thank you Jesus, for using me in your grand plan. 

I will never understand, but I will be forever thankful. 

Have a wonderful Hump Day, my friends!