We're lucky enough to get to travel for holidays, and with some experience, we've learned that we prefer travelling on our own, rather than with a tour group. But for some places, it's difficult to travel on your own, like this year's holiday in Israel. This is the second time we've been there, but even then, it's not that easy to get to the places of interest. We also happened to be travelling with our parents and with church friends, so it made sense to travel in a group. And if you've been on tours before, you know that such holidays often revolve around life on the tour bus! Lots and lots of time on the tour bus!
This being a trip to Israel with church and family, one of the expectations was to have not just a fun time, but also a time of learning and reflection. It's quite amazing to be in so many of the places that the Bible records, and see with our own eyes that the Bible is not a storybook - it really is a history book, of real places and real people and real events.
On the second day of the tour, my wife said to me, you know, we should have a daily devotion on the bus, so that this isn't just any other holiday. I said, yeah, that makes sense. So I went to my church leader and suggested it to him, and he said, yeah, that makes sense, and he spoke to the bus I/C who said, yeah makes sense. So the very next day I started the first set of devotions to be shared with the people on the bus. A couple of days later, we even got our daughter to lead the devotions. I didn't realise it until later, but when the other tour bus heard what we were doing, they started doing it too.
By the end of the trip, we had devotions every day on both tour buses, everybody was enjoying the tone that it set for the whole day, and it became an integral part of the trip, which people remembered in their "thank you" Whatsapp messages in the travel chatgroup.
Zechariah 4:10 (NLT) says "Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin..."
No one saw what my wife did in quietly prompting me to start the devotions (well, not until I write this blog now). But everyone experienced the consequences of her small act of faithfulness. This small beginning was... a beginning. A small beginning of something that eventually had a disproportionally outsized impact on the trip. It set the atmosphere for each day. It introduced God into our holiday. It gave my daughter the chance to serve. It even became an integral part of the itinerary. Thank God for small beginnings!
The other "small beginning" I have been walking through is the #SGXmasblessing (Singapore Christmas blessing). To recap - I put together a Facebook page, with the idea of doing an act of kindness for someone, taking a picture, posting it, and having the recipient pass the act of kindness forward in a chain.
I am so encouraged by everyone who has joined in, whether they post it on Facebook or not. Every act of kindness and every post is an encouragement to all our friends and family, to bring more love into the world.
I learned something amazingly humbling just from starting this little thing. It is this - it's really not so easy to do even a small act of kindness. I wake up in the morning and ask myself, what act of kindness can I do today? And by act of kindness, I mean, something that I go out of my way to do, with no expectation of reciprocation.
Hmm. Not so easy. One time, I bought two juices and thought to myself, ok I'll give them to the first two colleagues I see this morning. That worked. Another time, I arranged to meet someone for coffee, and thought, you know, buying coffee doesn't really count as an act of kindness per se, because it's so... expected to do so as part of a business related catchup? So I bought him a cup of cut fruit on my walk to the meeting place. On other occasions, I have prayed for someone, promised to connect someone to a charity, and yes, back to buying juice again, because I was out of ideas!
As for passing it on? I think it's even harder - I've only seen one person pass it on. And the takeup rate in general has been a lot lower than many other social media chain initiatives, like, you know "forward this if you agree" or "type Amen if you agree!".
Why is this so? I think it's clear. Most of us, including myself, like to think of ourselves as good, kind people. But as I've found out, save for a few inspiring exceptions, we are generally only nice to the people we feel like being nice too - typically people who we reasonably expect to be nice to us in return. It's not easy to consciously walk around thinking, how can I go out of my way to be kind to someone today. I don't blame anyone. Now that I'm trying to do it myself, I realise this. It's really really hard. It's one thing to click "forward" or type "Yes" but actually doing a kindness? It simply doesn't come naturally to many of us.
So... wow. We're not as good and kind as we think we are. What must I be like when there isn't a #SGXmasblessing target to aim for? I could and probably have spent weeks or months never going out of my way to be kind!
And if you are anything like me at all, then I suppose that, in the whole world, there must be relatively few acts of kindness floating around on a daily basis. I mean, if we aren't giving them out, then very few people must be receiving them. What a cold, hard world we live in!
But it's not all doom and gloom. If indeed there are relatively few acts of kindnesses being perpetrated upon the world, then it must mean that these few must shine like diamonds! So yes, even that small act of buying a juice - that shines like a diamond! That prayer for our tour guide - also a diamond! That cup of cut fruits - a diamond! And each kindness, though small, perhaps is a beginning of something... bigger. So I am encouraged to carry on. Until what is uncommon becomes common. Until the ripples of each small beginning begets waves, the end of which I cannot see!
Will you join me?
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