In preparation for lent, my friends and I decided to do random acts of kindness (commonly known in the community as RAK). We’re all excited as we prepare for it. Our plan was to give flowers to random people with a love note attached on it. Excitement started to fill our hearts the night before our RAK day. We gathered in one of our friends’ house and preparsed those sweet notes… and of course we tried to be as sweet and loving and sincere (even though some of the words are from the internet, :p) as we could be as wrote those words on fancy flowery sticky notes. That night was really fun!
Of course the best part was the RAK itself… our goal was simply to make people smile. We grabbed fresh roses from Safeway and handed them into random people at random places – coffee shop, business office, parking lot, bus stop, drive thru (which became the most popular for us, more convenient I guess!), toboganning park, and even caught some people in residential area. And as expected we got different reactions from people. They would scream, they’re wide eyed, some were speechless… We don’t know what they’re thinking, but we are sure of one thing: they are happy. So we all can say: Mission accomplished! They are happy, but we are happier.
A couple of weeks after that, I just finished laundry and was about to leave the shop when a lady knocked at my car. I opened the window and right there I found out she’s drunk and she could barely talk. She said she’s lost and doesn’t know her way home. She told me her address but said I am not familiar with the area (I said that with all honesty though) and she can just ask anyone inside the laundry shop. It seems she didn’t hear what I said and for the second time she asked me again if I know the way to her place. So I repeated my answer and deep inside me I was wishing she would walk away… because I was scared. Then she left. I felt safe. I was thankful. I was relieved… until I got home. I felt guilty, thinking about the woman and hoping she’s safe. I could have done something more than telling her to ask the people in the shop. I could have googled her address and take her home. I could have called some help if I am scared to do it alone. I felt so ashamed.
And then it came back to me… all the “kindness” that we did at RAK. All our excitements and eagerness were there to do our RAK – because we’re prepared, because there’s four of us, because we kinda know what to expect. But unfortunately that’s not how the game of Christianity is played.
I am not saying that RAK is just for fun or its not right, people would kill me. I would definitely do that again when I got a chance. But I think God expects more from us. 2 Peter 3:10 says “The Lord will come like a thief in the night”. The Lord presents himself in our daily encounter with people, usually at times we do not expect. Jesus shows Himself to us through random situations, through random people, at random places. When this happens, are we prepared with our random acts of kindness? Let’s not just RAK people, let’s RAK the Lord! 🙂 #jet