Behind-the-scenes Kindness - The One Year Daily Acts of Kindness Devotional

Behind-the-Scenes Kindness

The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

Matthew 23:11-12

I had volunteered to help out with the resource table at an amazing Christian women’s conference, and I was so excited to be a part of the big things God was doing.

But as I watched other volunteers bustling about while I sat behind the confines of the resource table, I found myself longing to do more. Out of the blue, a stranger came striding up with an infant in her arms. “I need someone to hold this baby,” she stated. I didn’t hesitate. As I reached out my arms, this person explained that the child’s mom was about to take the stage in a dramatic performance, and someone needed to hold her baby for approximately an hour.

Even though the baby had not been fed recently, she slept peacefully in my arms the entire time, and I guarded her as though she were my own. Her mom reclaimed her just as our table was deluged with questions and requests in between sessions, and I watched as they melted into the crowd—no names ever exchanged.

On my way home, I initially felt let down that I hadn’t been able to play a bigger role at the conference, until a quiet thought interrupted my one-sided conversation with God. It suggested that my contribution to the conference was to hold that baby, standing in the darkened back of the auditorium behind the little resource table—allowing another woman to take the stage in a breathtaking performance used by God to reach a roomful of hearts and minds with the gospel.

I’ve returned to this lesson repeatedly when I start to wonder whether my small contributions, my small kindnesses have any eternal value. It’s so true that God exalts the humble, and he humbles the ones who exalt themselves. I now simply ask God to use me on a daily basis and trust that the size of an act doesn’t matter. It’s what God does with our obedience that changes the world.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Find a small way to serve someone, and as you do, pray that God would use it in a big way.