Never Miss An Event
Latest News

Keeping it Kind: One Church’s Effort to Spread the Joy

Sometimes they are subtle gestures – holding the door at the post office, or waving another driver ahead so they can merge into traffic. Often the gesture is grand – delivering a homemade meal for a family who just lost a loved one, or mowing the lawn for a neighbor recovering from surgery.

We are very quick to believe that our world has become increasingly unkind and selfish, yet random acts of kindness happen every day.

This week my church, Middletown United Methodist Church is participating in a Kindness Scavenger Hunt. The brainchild of one of our student members, Evan Ruderman, the effort requires that teams of 4 complete a number of acts of kindness in order to score points. The ultimate goal: to raise funds for Middletown Valley People Helping People and to increase positivity in our community.

My team consists of MUMC Pastor Sarah Dorrance, myself, and two of my dear friends, Lara Shepherd, and Angie Dredden. Throughout the week we have been working independently performing various acts of kindness but tonight was our first opportunity to work together as a team. What fun we had!

Here is what I know:

1)  Kindness does as much for the giver as the receiver. I found myself feeling happier and happier as the night wore on.

2) The more acts of kindness you perform, the more you want to continue. I was sad for our evening of activity to end.

3) When you perform acts of kindness, it is like releasing happy pheromones into the environment. People smile, talk with you, and offer to take your picture. (Could it possibly be because we were dressed in our make-shift tee-shirts with our team name?  #keepingitkind)

4)  Kindness costs nothing. (OK  for us, it only cost the price of an ice cream cone to celebrate the end of a fun evening of fellowship.)

Please join us! How can you spread kindness in your corner of the world? Let’s be the hands and feet of God in a world that so desperately needs it. In the words of Mother Theresa:

“We can do no great things in this world. Only small things with great love.”

#keepingitkind