By: Donna Martin
How do you feel when someone does something kind for you that you were not expecting? 
When someone is unexpectedly kind to me it lifts my spirits, makes me feel loved and important, and motivates me to pass the kindness on to someone else. Kindness is contagious.
I think we could all use a little more kindness in our lives. Too often we get so busy that we forget to be kind. We snap at our family, refuse to let someone in the line of traffic, forget to say thank you, fail to really listen, and complain about everything that goes wrong. Our minds are focused so much on ourselves and what we have to do that we are unaware of the needs of others around us. We forget how much a smile and a kind word can lift the spirits of people we meet each day, even total strangers.
February 17 is Random Acts of Kindness Day, but how about focusing on kindness every day? Here’s an activity that will help your family spread more kindness. Gather your family together at dinner or at your devotional time and explain to them that you want them to catch kindness. Tell them to look for ways to be kind to others throughout the day and to try to catch others in the act of being kind. Encourage them to be kind to different people, and to look for people whom they think could use a little kindness. Let them know that at dinner each day they are to report on what they did to be kind to others and who they caught being kind.
Each night take turns at dinner giving everyone the opportunity to tell either how they were kind or how they observed someone else being kind. As a parent try to catch your children being kind, and as often as you can, report the kind things that you caught them doing. Talk about how the kind acts made them feel both when they were the recipients of kindness and when they were the givers of kindness.
Help your children memorize Ephesians 4:32, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”
The Martins are available to present “Happy Together” Marriage Enrichment Events for churches and organizations. To schedule an event call Michael at 940-735-1515. They are certified “Prepare/Enrich” Facilitators and are available to work with couples on an individual basis using the “Prepare/Enrich Assessment.” They publish a weekly “Happy Together” Blog about family and marriage issues. You can order copies of their new books Dancing With Death and 366 Tidbits We Have Learned in 14,610 Days of Marriage, read, and subscribe to their “Happy Together” Blog by logging onto the Martin’s website at www.happytogethermarriages.com.