Wednesday, 29 March 2023
Zechariah 4:10a
Do not despise these small beginnings
A smile, a wave, a simple hello, an act of kindness, a word of encouragement, etc may seem irrelevant to some but wow what that might lead to!
At the end of November last year, we decided to withdraw Jean-Luc (my eldest son who is six years old) from his former school. My son wasn't happy with the school and had been asking us to change schools for him and he wanted to attend the same school as Janick (my youngest son who is three) or another school but both schools had no vacancy in year 2. So we decided to homeschool him and he was much happier and improved leaps and bounds in his education.
About a week into homeschooling him, while on our way back from our shopping trip we met a woman with a friendly shiny metallic grey dog. Jean-Luc loves dogs and has always wanted a pet dog and this little dog captivated our attention and the woman owner was very kind to let Jean-Luc play and stroke her dog. She then asked Jean-Luc, "Aren't you supposed to be in school?" I then answered on Jean-Luc's behalf that we withdrew him from school and currently he's being homeschooled. So she listened and wanted to know more why we decided so and I told her about the school without mentioning the name of the school and she straight away told me the name of the school that I was talking about. Also she said she had heard the same story about the school and she even gave me the list of schools that are no good in our area, but most importantly she told me that there's one school in particular which is good - Hawksmoor Primary School as now it has been taken over by an outstanding school trust and her granddaughter is a student in that school. I thanked her for that information and promised to look into it. And so we did, and both my husband and I researched about the school.
The next day, we greeted a mother who was walking her kids to Janick's school. We became friends after I decided to make the first move weeks ago by saying "Good morning" to her one morning (after seeing her walking past our house several times with her children and she always looked stern). Wow what a simple greeting can do in breaking down walls and creating friendship. We have become friends and I found out how helpful and kind she is. So we talked on the way to school and I told her about Hawksmoor Primary School, the school recommended by the woman we saw the day before. Then this friend of mine told me yes she heard about the school too as her friend's children attend Hawksmoor and said the teachers are nice and that it would be a good idea to try out the school. So we did. We decided to apply to the school for Jean-Luc. Guess what? Jean-Luc got accepted into the school and has been attending since 4th January. By the grace of God, he's happier and more excited going to his new school everyday now. His teachers including headteacher, deputy head teacher are kind, well mannered, caring and very supportive.
It's always good to be kind and friendly to people around you, especially those you meet daily as you walk around your neighbourhood or on your school run or wherever you are whether in your office building, shopping centre, market, etc. You'll be surprised what that might lead you to.
My children are friendly and I remember while Jean-Luc was in school and Janick was still too small to attend nursery school, we went on a walk in the park with him. While walking back home, we saw a man with his little daughter walking toward our direction. We have seen each other on numerous occasions on the school run when Jean-Luc was attending the previous school and never said hi to each other as he looked stern. Out of nowhere Janick, who was only 2 years old at that time, suddenly ran up to him with a big smile on his face and this man couldn't resist the smile of Janick and straightaway picked him in the air and was so delighted and happy, the biggest grin replaced his stern looking face. Since then we have become friends and he was kind enough to let Jean-Luc play with his German shepherd dogs and they like Jean-Luc too. He was very protective of our children too whenever we met.
A few months ago while I was on my way to fetch Jean-Luc back from school, I saw him walking towards a bench and sat down. Due to his name (I will not mention his name here), it reminded me of the story of a man in the Bible and God prompted in my heart to say this to him as I walked past him, "The Spirit of the Lord is your strength." He looked at me and said (with sadness and downcast replaced by a glimmer of hope and awakening), "Thank you. Thank you. Ok, ok." I didn't say anything more than that and I left and we bade each other goodbye. A few days after that encounter, our mutual friend walked past our house with his dog and I told Jean-Luc about it. He was so excited to see the uncle and invited both the uncle and the dog into our house. So the uncle took the opportunity to tell me what had recently happened to the man that I said the Spirit of the Lord is your strength to him just a few days after the incident. It was sad what happened but weeks later I met up with the man again and I said we're supporting you in prayer and he was stunned and he confirmed that that timely word I gave him just confirmed it's from God as he knew I didn't know at that time what had happened to him.
Wow, how significant it is for doing an insignificant act of friendliness and kindness that many of us might not even regard as important.
Guess what just happened yesterday? On my way back from the shop, I bumped into the woman with the little grey metallic dog for the second time after not seeing her since the beginning of December last year. She could still recognise me and I said to her, "You're God-sent! My son is now in Hawksmoor Primary School and he's happier going to school everyday." She was so happy to hear about Jean-Luc and I asked her the name of her granddaughter as I got a feeling whenever my son mentioned certain names that that could possibly be the woman's granddaughter and true enough she confirmed her granddaughter's name exactly what's in my heart. Her granddaughter had helped Jean-Luc a few times when he got injured at the playground and brought him to see the teacher.
Let's be people who do the insignificant little act of kindness and who knows what that might lead to. We or them might be God-sent. Never will we underestimate the "insignificant act of kindness" - a wave, a smile, a greeting, a helping hand or a kind words of encouragement.
Proverb 21:21 "Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor."
Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
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