a random act of kindness

"Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty."-- Anne Herbert

I was given a bumper sticker with this quote on it for my birthday one year in college. I love it... and hopefully I got the source right. What does it mean to me? Well, a lot, because I have received so many kind acts of service in my life, as have I been blessed by performing them. One of the things I treasure most about my membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the organization of the Relief Society. The Relief Society is the largest organization of its kind for women in the world. We are the caregivers of our religion, pausing to uplift and serve not only one another but in our communities and throughout the world as well. It's not surprising that I have made some of my longest lasting connections through this sisterhood. During my pregnancies, especially, I have been on the receiving end of love and selfless giving.

Today I received a care package in the mail from Les. It was such a pleasant surprise and one that I very much needed today! I'd asked her a couple weeks ago for some make-ahead dinner recipes that I could freeze in bulk to make things easier for me towards the end of my pregnancy. Going beyond the call of kindness, she also sent me an embroidered tea towel, a blank canvas, some great artsy magnets and a card detailed with some wonderful quotes about the all entailing call of womanhood. This is a woman after my own heart, I tell ya!

Here is one of those quotes which really spoke to me: "To be a woman is to have interests and duties, raying out in all directions from the central mother-core, like spokes from the hub of a wheel. The pattern of our lives is essentially circular. We must be open to all points of the compass; husband, children, friends, home, community, stretched out, exposed, sensitive like a spider's web to each breeze that blows, to each call that comes. How difficult for us, then, to achieve a balance in the midst of these contradictory tensions, and yet how necessary for the proper functioning of our lives.--Anne Morrow Lindbergh from "Gift from the Sea"

Yes, achieving balance is difficult at times like this, but made easier when others are in tune and sensitive to the needs of those around them. We have such capacity for good, women, when we tap into our natural tendencies to nurture one another!