Dorcas

Dorcas . . . was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.

Acts 9:36

If there were a race named Kindness Klassic or Good Deeds Derby, Dorcas would have been the champion. She made garments for widows and sewed the buttons on many a child’s coat. When she died, the whole town turned out in grief, and someone sent for Peter. The Bible says, “Peter . . . knelt down and prayed. And turning to the body he said, ‘Tabitha [Dorcas], arise.’ And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up” (Acts 9:40).

In 1982, Berkeley writer Anne Herbert wrote a simple sentence: “Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” She wanted people to imagine what would happen if there were an outbreak of kindness in the world, if everybody did one kind thing on a daily basis. Now there is an international movement wherein thousands of people commit random acts of kindness, such as seeking to adopt a stray animal, smiling at a bus driver, complimenting a stranger, returning shopping carts to the store, treating local police officers to coffee, and giving up their places in the grocery line to someone with just one item.

If anyone should be kind, it is the followers of Jesus. Today, be a Dorcas and commit a random act of kindness.

The best portion of a good man’s life is his little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and of love.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH