411 Children - The One Year Daily Acts of Kindness Devotional

411 Children

Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.

James 1:17

Four hundred and eleven. That was the number of underprivileged kids that walked through the Kids’ Hope Shop at the homeless shelter on a December evening. They stood outside in a line wrapping around the building, blowing on their hands and stomping their feet to ward off the chill. Once inside, they walked through a Nativity scene, enjoyed a lasagna dinner, and then entered a large room full of donated items for parents, teens, and smaller children. They chose items for each of their family members, wrapped them, and took them home to put under the tree for Christmas.

I was part of the wrapping crew. Hugely pregnant, I stretched my back and smiled at the children in line, waiting their turn to wrap gifts. Some children hurried through their gift wrapping with reckless abandon, joyously grabbing tags and bows to adorn them. Others were deliberate, almost unsmiling in their determination to choose exactly the right wrapping paper for each family member, with small, grubby hands firmly placing crooked tape and writing names on tags in shaky handwriting.

After I’d spent more than three hours standing there wrapping gifts, my feet were protesting. I took a short break and then headed back. After another couple of hours, we were finally finished cleaning up. As we left, I couldn’t help but whisper to Tim, “I love this event. It’s one of my favorite nights of the year.” Nodding, he agreed, reaching over to take my hand in his as we drove away from the shelter toward home.

Nights like that remind me of God’s love for us; experiences like these are good and perfect gifts that come from God. And it makes me think: Isn’t our ability to help others, to show kindness, to spread love, a gift in itself? Despite the hours spent helping to wrap other people’s gifts, the joy it brings to me to help others is a precious gift beyond measure, yet another reflection of how God lavishes us with gifts and delights in seeing us do the same for others.

—Kristin

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Give someone a gift, and thank God for the opportunity to bless them.