It feels good to do nice things for strangers. Try it! Think about intentional kindness to strangers as a way to live with flair. If the day feels boring or purposeless to you, you can set your mind to find strangers to bless. I love the challenge of it. I love imagining what I’ll do.
It feels part of a “sent” identity. What if God sends you today to bless a stranger?
Once, at the airport, instead of complaining and sitting in misery over a delayed flight, I thought about helping others. I tried to notice people around me. That day, I helped an older woman with a walker who looked disoriented find her way to the bathroom. Later, she was scared and confused about where to go and how to make sure she was in the right place, so I sat beside her until she boarded the right flight. Next, I helped a young man with headphones on who almost missed his flight to Montreal. I noticed his Canadian passport and realized he couldn’t hear his name being called over the intercom because his flight was departing. I shook him and sent him running out to catch that flight. He couldn’t stop thanking me as he ran on, arms flailing as he burst through the doors to his flight. I imagine him home, safe and warm in Canada.
So far today, helping strangers meant letting a car turn in front of me in a long line of traffic this morning. The driver seemed so grateful and relieved to inch her way in to an otherwise solid block of unrelenting cars.
It meant complimenting someone’s plaid pants. I walked by a woman on the way to my classroom and just said, “I absolutely love those pants.” She turned around and said, “Oh! My pants? Oh! Oh, thank you!” I think it made her day. She tilted her head up and walked on, probably feeling gorgeous.
Who’s next? I think about where I’ll be this afternoon and which strangers I can bless with some kind gesture. I think about those times in my life when a complete stranger helped me. I can be that person.