Kindness.

Recently, for whatever reason, I have been receiving the most beautiful compliments.
Ones that include phrases like, "you're my role model" and "I couldn't have made it through...without you." and other such of the sort.
Looking back now at how I've lived my life over the years, I never thought I was doing much of anything. I was just talking to people, being kind. I put my heart into it, because my heart is for people. If there was something I could do to help them breathe easier, why not do it?
Now, I'm not talking about running yourself into the ground to let people walk all over you, that's different.
This is just meeting the need. Doing what you have the ability to do to help people.
Sometimes it's as simple as just listening. Sometimes it's saying something encouraging. In high school, I baked brownies for people on occasion. And really, what I found that it did was it ended up encouraging me right back; sometimes even more than the encouragement I was giving. Seeing that they were able to have a better day inadvertently made my day better.
It's a win win.
What's more, is it can inspire other people to reach out in kindness. Sometimes on the days when you need it most yourself. I'll never forget such a time when I was a senior in high school. I was having a particularly rough morning, and just kinda went about it like normal; not really expecting anything spectacular to happen. I get to class to a gift on my desk. Two of my friends, Jennifer and Ainsley, had gone out of their way to make me cookies and give me a wall sign that said "you make me smile." They also wrote in a card where they told of how they noticed how I encouraged others and decided that I needed to have the favor returned. They will never fully know what that meant to me. When I got to my next class, I found homemade monkey bread and chocolate milk along with a mix CD from my friend Bethany. It was also accompanied by a card bursting with encouragement.
I've moved a lot over the years, but that wall sign goes with me to every new residence. It stands as a constant reminder of the power a little bit of kindness truly holds. And that mixed CD is still one of my favorites. Sadly, the original was mistakenly taken along with a case of my other favorite CDs one summer at camp, but not before I had it saved safely on my computer. I still turn to it when I'm in need of encouragement. Seven years later and it's encouragement still holds as strong as the first day.
These three girls will probably never fully know the depth of their impact on my life. I will never forget them and their kindness.
In the same way, if I can ever find a window to make someone feel how wonderfully, how wanted, how accepted, how important, how valued those girls made me feel that day, then why wouldn't I follow through with it? The time it would take to make it happen is so minimal when it comes to the resounding impact it leaves on a life.
Those girls inspired me that day. They inadvertently gave me a reason to live. A hope. Something to hold to. They gave me such a beautiful reminder that I am not just a meaningless shadow upon this earth, but that the life I live has purpose. That if my only purpose is to be able to make one person--just one person--breathe a little bit easier, then living every moment of this life is worth it. Even if all my life is is a bunch of ordinary days in the life of an ordinary person. Even if I never have a title to my name, an impressive resume, or an adventurous life that people envy.
I don't want to make people feel envious. I want to make them feel inspired, just like I was made to feel on that day my senior year of high school seven years ago.
So when people compliment me, when they thank me for my kindness, for my inspiration, for my encouragement, they aren't just thanking me. That gratitude belongs to these people throughout my life who took the time to fill an opportunity to make me feel like I was a life worth living. There's more than just these three girls; the list is quite extensive. If you want to know more of them, read my journals. They're all written about in those books. And just the same, their influence is carried in my heart every day  I'm still breathing.
Most people would look at me and think I'm strong enough; that I wouldn't need encouragement. So when someone takes the time out to go the extra mile to make sure the one that's encouraging gets encouraged, it stands out. Because usually, those are the ones who need it most. And most of the time, they won't even realize it until it's their.
Those are things you will never forget.

I could go on and on on this post; expounding more on kindness being unbiased, color blind, unprejudiced, open-hearted, intentional, open-minded, and numerous other things, but I'll stop it here.
Let this serve as a challenge. For you to find out for yourself how rewarding simple kindness really can be.
Who knows? You could even save a life.