Kindness ripples

I was discussing a Bible story with my child and a friend. We were talking about Naomi, Ruth and Boaz. As we went through the different aspects of the tale we started discussing the effects that being kind to someone can have on their life and subsequent behaviour.

And this got me thinking about some experiences that I used to have when I was a child. As you probably know by now, I am one of a large family of siblings and as a result we hardly every had any quiet time at home.

So that made me remember when I was younger and how I used to spend a lot of time out of the house. As a family all of us would spend hours in our big back garden or we would go for long walks, especially at the weekend. I now think it was part of our parents’ plan to get some peace and quiet but at the time it seemed like we were getting the best deal as we were free to roam and explore everything around us in the Wiltshire countryside. It was fun!

While on our walks we would inevitably happen upon a river: not unusual when you live near the River Avon – it comes up all over the place. When we got to the water we would skim rocks across the surface in a competition mode. Each of us wanted to have the most rock skips. And we could do this for what seemed like hours.

Once we’d started we just wanted to continue. Seeing the initial ripples made us want to do it all over again. So we kept repeating the experience until it got so dark that we finally had to go home. But I still remember that feeling of doing one thing in our games and seeing another one happen because of it.

I think it is the same with kindness.

Have you ever noticed that kindness ripples? Just like skimming a stone in the river. Try it, it’s a lovely experience.

You won't be the only one who remembers it for a long time.