Gestures of Kindness
"Never under estimate the value of little gestures of kindness" If this is not a famous quote, it should be. The truth of this statement could not have hit me harder than when I picked up the phone this afternoon to check on a friend who has been in and out of the hospital for the last several months. Though we have been friends for over three years, we have never met face to face. We've spoken on live chat, via webcam and on a rare occasion, the phone. We've exchanged letters and Christmas cards and kept up with each other's lives all this time. We've prayed about each others struggles, family and relationships. My friend lives in the United Kingdom, and I in the United States, but thanks to the internet, we have been able to maintain the kind of friendship that is rare between two people who live so far apart.
What I didn't realize until today is how much our friendship means to my friend. Over the months, I have checked into the hospital from time to time, spoken with my friend and many times with the nurses on the floor. When I first called, the nurses already knew who I was and quickly put my calls through to my friend. Two weeks ago when I called, and he was too sick to talk, they were quick to let tell me his condition and said they would make sure he knew I'd call. Today when I called, after I spoke to the nurses, the phone was handed over to the one person who has been to hospital to see my friend regularly. It was then that I learned that not only does my friend look forward to my phone calls, his whole condition seems to improve every time I call. I didn't realize that it mattered that much.
Though I don't have some magical power over my friend (only God has that kind of power), he does need to know that I still care. While he is lying in a hospital bed suffering miserably (and he is), it matters that I am not a fairweather friend who is only around when things are going well. True friends are in it for the long haul, and my phone calls though seldom and brief remind him that I'm not abandoning our friendship just because he's sick. Nearly all his other friends have fled or forgotten.
From this I have learned that we should never look lightly on little gestures of kindness. If God puts it on our heart to give a cold cup of water in His Name, than we should do it, whether or not we think it makes any difference. The truth is, it does make a difference.
What I didn't realize until today is how much our friendship means to my friend. Over the months, I have checked into the hospital from time to time, spoken with my friend and many times with the nurses on the floor. When I first called, the nurses already knew who I was and quickly put my calls through to my friend. Two weeks ago when I called, and he was too sick to talk, they were quick to let tell me his condition and said they would make sure he knew I'd call. Today when I called, after I spoke to the nurses, the phone was handed over to the one person who has been to hospital to see my friend regularly. It was then that I learned that not only does my friend look forward to my phone calls, his whole condition seems to improve every time I call. I didn't realize that it mattered that much.
Though I don't have some magical power over my friend (only God has that kind of power), he does need to know that I still care. While he is lying in a hospital bed suffering miserably (and he is), it matters that I am not a fairweather friend who is only around when things are going well. True friends are in it for the long haul, and my phone calls though seldom and brief remind him that I'm not abandoning our friendship just because he's sick. Nearly all his other friends have fled or forgotten.
From this I have learned that we should never look lightly on little gestures of kindness. If God puts it on our heart to give a cold cup of water in His Name, than we should do it, whether or not we think it makes any difference. The truth is, it does make a difference.
Comments