Simple Kindness

If you want to be happy, be kind to the poor;
it is a sin to despise anyone.

TINA LOOKED AT THE STACK of bills on the counter. She didn’t need to log in to her bank account to know that she wouldn’t be able to pay them all this month. Her shoulders slumped as she pulled last night’s tuna casserole from the refrigerator. She dished out a serving to reheat in the microwave.

Tina had been working for the past six months as an administrative assistant at a tire store—a big improvement from the late shift she had been working at the pizza place. But money was still tight.

Will I ever get ahead?

When the microwave timer went off, Tina took her plate outside on the deck. Her townhouse backed up to a nature reserve, giving her a glorious view from her backyard.

As she took her first bite, she heard a rustling sound in the bushes. Assuming the noise to be squirrels at play, she continued to eat. But when the rustling turned into a pitiful meow, Tina set her plate aside and stood up to get a better look. A gray-and-white cat emerged from a nandina bush.

“Well, hello,” Tina said to the unexpected visitor. “I’ve never seen you around here before.”

She expected the cat to run away, but it didn’t even look up. It kept walking toward Tina’s deck—its little nose pressed to the ground.

“You’re a confident one, aren’t you?”

The cat continued walking, lifting its nose every few steps to sniff the air before making it to the stairs of Tina’s deck. It cautiously climbed up.

Tina knelt in front of the haggard-looking cat, whose matted fur and noticeable ribs tugged at Tina’s heart. She stretched her hand toward the little animal who again raised its nose as if catching a new scent. Now just a foot away, Tina noticed the cat’s unfocused, glassy eyes. She snapped her fingers, but the cat did not react at all. Tina surmised the stray could neither see nor hear.

“Oh, kitty,” she said. “What happened to you?”

The cat rubbed against Tina’s leg, then lifted her nose into the air again—something smelled good.

The tuna casserole.

Without a second thought, Tina put her plate in front of the cat, who devoured it in less than ten minutes. After eating her fill, the cat licked her front paws and then lay down on Tina’s outdoor rug.

Tina sat with the cat until the sun dropped below the horizon. Before turning in for the night, she set out a bowl of milk and spread a thick blanket beside the cat.

“Goodnight, little kitty.”

The next morning the cat was gone.

Tina hoped she would see the cat again, but she never did. The little cat was a fighter and had clearly found a way to keep going, no matter what life threw at her—a way that clearly included the kindness of strangers.

Three weeks later, Tina opened her mailbox to find a card from an aunt she hadn’t seen in ten years. The aunt wrote that she felt led to send Tina a little gift, and she had enclosed a check.

Tina’s eyes blurred with tears at this unexpected gift, and she immediately thought of the feline visitor. Maybe Tina’s simple act of kindness was being repaid.

PAWS & PONDER . . .

In what ways does being kind to the poor make us happy? Do you think this proverb applies only to those who are poor financially? Who else might need our kindness? What are some practical ways you can show kindness to the poor in your life?

Paws & Pray

God, thank you for caring about me and meeting my needs, often by stirring the hearts of others to help. Please stir my heart to show kindness to the poor—the poor in spirit as well as those struggling financially. Fill my heart to overflowing with love for you so that I can gladly share your loving-kindness with those in need.