Has anyone done something nice for you lately? How did you respond? Did you say thank you or did you try to pay the person back in some way?

Many of us have trouble accepting kindness from others. It makes us feel like we owe a return favour to the person - kind of like an obligation.

However, kindness shouldn’t be like that. Kindness should generate kindness. In other words, if someone does something kind to you, you should in turn do something kind to two other people. Hopefully, they will do something kind to others and so on and so on. Eventually, you may find yourself on the receiving end of an act of kindness that was a result of you starting the chain reaction.

I think you will enjoy the message from the story below.

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods door to door to pay his way through school found he had only one thin dime left and he was hungry. He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.

Instead of a meal, he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry and so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly, and then asked, “How much do I owe you?”

“You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness.”

He said, “Then I thank you from my heart.” As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strengthened also. He had been ready to give up and quit.

Years later, that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease.

Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, he went down the hall of the hospital to her room. Dressed in his doctor’s gown, he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day, he gave special attention to her case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested from the business office to pass the final billing to him for approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge, and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked and something caught her attention on the side of the bill. She read these words:

Paid in full with one glass of milk..

Signed   

Dr. Howard Kelly

No act of kindness is ever wasted. Even if you don’t receive an acknowledgement from the recipient, you can rest assured that it has affected him and will eventually produce something positive. The more acts of kindness you dish out on any given day, the more people you will be providing with a special gift to take with them along their daily journey.  Since you never really know just how much impact your act of kindness will have on the people you meet, you should always take advantage of every opportunity to be kind. And you never know when that simple act of kindness may one day be returned in a big way. Look at what one glass of milk did in the story today.

Go ahead - start the chain reaction!