The day a young college kid taught me a lesson on kindness

(Not photo of actual event, this was AI generated. How wild is that?)

True kindness begins when we trade our comfort for His Compassion.

I learned this lesson one evening years ago when I had four very little children. We had spent a fun (albeit stress-filled) day hiking in the mountains. By the end of it, our kids were hungry and exhausted, and so was I.

Luckily, we spotted a gas station at the base of the canyon that had a sandwich shop attached to it. While standing in line to order the sandwiches, my two-year-old daughter had an epic meltdown.

In an attempt to not share our chaos with the rest of the store, I began ushering her out to the car, but I could not pick her up because I was carrying our baby in my arms.

I did a pretty good job until we reached the door, where she stood firmly in the middle and refused to come outside.

She was crying, the baby was crying, and at this point I was on the verge of crying too.

Just then, an angel in the form of a young college kid showed up and knelt right down on my 2-year-old's level. He asked my daughter if she was having a hard day. She looked at him with her big brown teary eyes and pouty lips and nodded her head yes. He told her, “Sometimes when I’m having a hard day, all I need is a little treat!”

It was then I noticed he was holding a large share-size bag of Reese's Pieces. He asked if she'd like a handful to help her have a better day. She reached her little hand in the bag and smiled at him. He was beaming from ear to ear and stood up to walk away when he stopped, knelt back down, and said, "Actually, I think you need the whole bag!".

Despite my protests telling him that it was way too generous, he handed it to her then proceeded out the door to sight I will never forget. There, waiting for him in the gas station parking lot, was a car full of other young adults who were cheering him on and waving at my daughter.

My heart felt like it might burst, and my daughter's mood instantly brightened.

As I look back on this experience I can’t help but recognize:

Sometimes showing up for others means stepping outside our comfort zones and making an effort to connect with those who might need support or understanding despite being completely different from us.

This takes courage and often that courage can be found by turning to God and asking to see the person as He sees them.

When we ask God to help us see His children how He sees them, He will help us get out of our comfort zones and reach out to them with His compassion.

Just think of how the world could change if everyone just did that one simple thing!

I know that my daughter’s world was changed, even just for a moment, that evening when someone stepped out of their comfort zone to help her feel loved - and so was mine.

Who is someone that you can show up for today?