In This Issue

Ask People to Help You?

Partnering for a Care Conference in your area

A Kindness Example

Another Kindness Example

Important Work

Light Notes

The Ring Bear

Ask People to Help You

—— Dr. James R. Kok

Loving-kindness comes in a multitude of shapes and sizes. Our usual emphasis in these articles has been on giving spirit-lifting words like warm greetings and words of appreciation, and on being a friendly person. But let’s look now at loving-kindness from a perspective that is a little bit different. Instead of focusing on the ‘giving’ of acts of kindness, we will look at ‘receiving’. It can be a fresh and real expression of loving-kindness to ask friends, and others, to lend us a hand. It is another form of kindness to graciously accept offers of help from those who reach out to help us. Receiving can turn out to be giving.

Julie Anderson, a young mother, sent the following anecdote. She was out for a bike ride in her neighborhood with her ten-year-old daughter, Larkin, when the chain started coming off the little girl’s sprocket. Here is her account of what happened:

“Just before rounding the corner to our house, we had an unfortunate/fortunate situation. Larkin’s bike chain came off, and although I got mighty greasy trying to get it back on the sprocket, I couldn’t get it to stay there. Then a man, accompanied by his son and daughter, came out of the nearby house. Larkin recognized the boy and casually said, ‘Hey, Bjorn.’ And he replied to her, ‘Hey, Larkin.’ Bjorn’s Dad said, ‘Oh, you two know each other?’ It turned out they had been in soccer camp together the previous week.

“The dad, seeing that we had a problem with the bike, asked if he could help us. I did not want to trouble him and I figured that I could somehow manage the situation. ‘Oh no,’ I said, ‘we live right over there. We can walk it home, and I’ll take it to the bike shop.’ The dad urged me to let him help, but I still resisted. I told him he would get his hands all greasy and showed him how dirty mine already were from trying to fix the chain.

(continued)

Dr. James R. Kok has written a definitive resource detailing the key essentials in becoming a more caring person in his latest book, “The Miracle of Kindness” (available on Amazon.com, in either paperback or Kindle edition.) A handful of basic tools —wrapped in courage—are the secret to changing the world through intentional acts of kindness.

As the Koach Of Kare, Dr. Kok has been a pastor at the
Crystal Cathedral for the past 27 years and heads the Care Ministry department of the church. He is the author of six books and numerous articles, and he is the founder of the
Conference on Care and Kindness, held annually at the Crystal Cathedral.

|| Care Capsule Index ||