Not So Random Acts - Tracy Krauss

Random Acts of Kindness...

This month's prompt reminded me of an activity our youth group did many years ago when we were in full time ministry. The youth group decided to do several random acts of kindness around the small town where we lived. Stacking firewood and shovelling snow were among the typical activities. Fun and fellowship; outdoor exercise and fresh air... these were the payoffs beyond the good feelings that doing something for someone else brings.

End of story, right? Well, I need to caveat this next part with a little explanation about my husband. He is a 'go big or go home' kind of guy. Doing a few odd jobs for the elderly, although a nice gesture, just didn't seem like enough.

There was a certain man in our town who had a problem with hoarding. You actually could not see his house from the street because there was so much junk piled in his front yard. The town had served him with multiple fines over the years to no avail. The next step was to send in a clean up crew, which they threatened to do, and which he would have to pay for.

Hoarding is actually a serious form of mental illness. For those of us looking in, it seems ridiculous to form such an attachment to what looks like garbage. The gentleman in question had a brother who lived nearby our church, and he asked if my husband would go over and see his brother, who was by this time extremely distraught. I might mention that the man with the hoarding problem was also a bit of a recluse. He drove around in his van collecting bottles and spending lots of time at the dump, but didn't interact much with people.

Part of the irony of this story is that my husband is a clean freak. For instance, he won't take out the garbage without wearing gloves. Seriously. He likes a tidy house. (And yes, he helps keep it that way!) But he's also compassionate and loves Jesus, so he went over to talk.

The man with the hoarding problem actually didn't see anything wrong with his property. Not only was his yard FULL, but his house was the same. Even his van was packed with so much stuff, mostly salvaged from the dump, that only the driver's seat was free. There wasn't much my husband could do on his own. The town crew were coming the following week with a loader and a big dump truck. The homeowner was overwhelmed.

But then my husband had an idea. Here was a way to show the love of Jesus to a man who was, by most standards, unloveable. He assembled a crew of teens and just showed up after school one day and started sorting. With the homeowner's 'supervision', they managed to pile things up into groupings. (Old washing machines here, engine parts there, scrap metal, bottles and cans... ) They were even allowed to take several trips to the dump with some actual garbage.

Several evenings and an entire weekend later, the yard, while by no means a show piece, at least looked organized. It was enough to make the town officials postpone their clean up operation, and it made that man weep with gratitude.

In the end, his yard continued to pile up once again. I'm not sure whether the town came and did something about it after all, since we moved away. But the experience certainly had an impact on the youth that were involved. It was not glamorous or fun. It was a dirty and disgusting job. But sometimes the love of Jesus shines best in these kinds of circumstances.  

Wonderful Words of Life

Often in life we don’t fully realize the value of something until we don’t have it.  Every time the electricity is interrupted, we are reminded how much we depend on it. The same thing happens when we no longer can read. 

As writers, especially, our lives pivot on words and weaving those words to tell stories, to share experiences, to encourage, teach and enlighten.  I often tell people I need to read as much as I need to eat in order to stay healthy.  Probably many of you do too. To create a card or write a note, finding words to say exactly what I want to convey, is one of the richest experiences I can think of.  It only gets better if the person it’s meant for truly gets the message and lets it sink into their hearts. 

In the past few months, I’ve had the privilege of going every other week to the Day Centre for Seniors that I helped bring into being, but haven’t been involved in for several years now.  I spend about an hour reading to a group of five to ten.  Most of those are avid readers who can no longer see the printed pages.  The look on their faces and the smiles of appreciation make it very rewarding. It’s almost like serving a full meal to a starving person.  They are truly grateful to hear short stories, poems or personal experience accounts and then to chat about what feelings were raised in their hearts with the reading.

Second Cup of Hot Apple Cider has been a big hit at those readings, as well as other anthologies with short, personal stories.  Last week I took some of my old readers from public school and read a few of the favorites I’ve read probably hundreds of times.  That brought back a lot of good memories to share.  Magazines provide interesting articles and sometimes the internet sends something my way that I must read to my little audience.

 

Whatever I read to them, they seem to like it best if I include some of my own writings.  I can already see that I will have added incentive to write about what I observe so I can share it with them.  There is another advantage to that.  When I read aloud what I have written to a rapt audience, I hear it through different ears.  It becomes a good editing experience. I see where I need more explanation or description.   I suddenly become aware of repetition of words, or superfluous trails I sometimes take.  Bless my listeners; they are very tolerant of those.  It doesn’t seem to take away from their enjoyment, but it adds to the fine-tuning of my craft.  

So, to the readers of this blog, I’d like to put out a challenge to you.  You may have a Seniors Day Centre near you, you probably have nursing homes not far away and almost certainly you have senior neighbours or fellow church members who may have trouble reading.  Seek out an opportunity in one or more of these, set aside a day a week or every other week, and share your writing with someone who can no longer see well enough to do it themselves. Can you imagine how many people’s lives could be enriched if each writer would pledge to do this?  If you would like helpful comments or critique on your writing, you can probably get it just by asking.  Many of your listeners are competent and well read. If they are retired teachers, editors or writers themselves, they can give good pointers and valuable feed-back.  Their age and insights will give you an additional advantage. That will be added profit for both of you—you will improve your writing, and they will have the satisfaction of using their talents in a meaningful way. 

The greatest gift of all, will be the relationships you form with people who have lived rich and full lives and who have a great deal to share with us if we are open to listen too!  It will be a good way to give and receive wonderful words of life.