Throughout any given day, we have plenty of opportunities to do the right thing. Several months ago, I was grocery shopping when I saw a man in a power scooter reaching for a product on the top shelf. A teen employee from the store stood there and watched. I felt compelled to help the man, and so I did. If I hadn't, the man's life wouldn't have been any different. I'm sure there are many times during the day when he has to reach for something that's just out of reach. I'm not a hero, but I'd hope that my small act of kindness made him feel a little more human that day. Every day brings us dozens of opportunities to serve and help our neighbor and I hope that you're taking action on at least a few of them.

Serving someone, especially in our societal climate today, can make a huge impact on someone's life. We're all turned in on ourselves and we're all very busy. We don't have time to help and we simply need to get on our way. So when you take a moment to help someone, you show the world that humanity still exists. You show the other people around you who observe your small act of kindness that being connected still matters. You might even find that the person most profoundly impacted by your small act is you.

Oftentimes these acts of kindness are hard to see. They're disguised as a hungry veteran, an elderly person reaching for something, or a child needing school supplies. They're disguised as a canned food drive, or a young pregnant mother, or an exhausted set of parents. They're disguised as a neighbor trying to fix a lawnmower or a colleague in the hospital. If you take the time to train your eyes to see these opportunities in plain sight, and if you're open to serving others, you'll find endless chances to bring some light to someone else's life.

You don't always have to leave your house to find opportunities to serve. In your marriage there are opportunities for you to strengthen your bonds and to ease your wife's burdens. Many of these opportunities have been posted on this blog in the past, so there's no need to revisit them. However, each day you're either working towards a stronger marriage or you're not. You get to decide.

Service to others, and performing spiritual and corporal works of mercy at random are beautiful things. Not only will you help bring some small comfort to someone else, you may just find that you walk away a changed person.

Tags: Generosity