Heart Hope by Olga

Kids teach us so much if we just take the time to listen. On a recent visit, 8 year old Will taught me about kindness, compassion and including others. Will, Molly and I were leaving church when Aunt Lala and Uncle Matt asked if the kids wanted to ride to our house in their car. Molly quickly answered yes since she adores her aunt and uncle who verbally applauded her for wanting to ride with them.  Will quietly said he would ride with me and hopped in the car. Driving out of the parking lot, he shared that he wanted to ride with me so that I wouldn't have to be by myself. He continued to confess that he tried to always look around to see if anyone was being left out in order to include them admitting that he had been left out before and he didn't like it.  He ended by saying that one of his friends doesn't like for him to include others because it hurts the team by having players on it that aren't very good, but Will said that's not what's important. Pretty ...

Years ago in one of my early teaching assignments, I was placed in summer school working with a group of young women who were in the special school for pregnant and parenting teens. I was excited about the new challenge and began with the idea that I was going to make a difference in their lives, but I think the opposite took place—I was changed.  My expectations were that we would be one happy family as I taught them about parenting, but their plan was to make my life miserable. I didn’t understand how they could say and do the hateful things to me and I wanted to quit, but in order to secure a full-time position for the next year I had to return each day. I didn’t want to; in fact, I would cry all the way home and plead with God asking Him not to make me go back, but instead of releasing me from the job, He gave me instructions to “Kill them with kindness.” When an unkind remark was made, I would respond with an encouraging statement. When they would mock me to their friends, I...

You all know the drill—you get on the airplane with a bunch of other people all trying to find a spot for their luggage. Many people have bags that are crammed too full and have way more “stuff” than they are permitted to carry on. The first people on the plane get the prime spaces for their carry-on bags while the ones in the later boarding groups are left to scramble to locate a spot for their luggage.  Seated with my luggage stowed under the seat in front of me, I observed a woman with a large suitcase looking for overhead space to put her bag. She found a spot that was plenty big enough except that is had a small bag in it. She was attempting to move the smaller bag into a space that would accommodate it when the man seated in the row behind me bellowed, “That is not your bag to move.” The passenger was bewildered by the gruff, unkind comment until other passengers jumped in to help her find a place to stow her bag.  What difference would it have made if the bag had ...