A Day Worth Celebrating

(Drop In talk, 13.11.18)

Happy Tuesday 13th to you!

Every day is a special day, a day to be celebrated as the gift that it is. Some days, however, are marked out as special days aren’t they.

We have obvious ones like:
December 25th – Christmas Day
November 11th – Armistice Day

And then there are the awareness days like:
February 4th – World Cancer Day
March 8th – World Women’s Day

And of course the slightly more unusual ones:
May 2nd – World Tuna Day
May 4th – Star Wars Day, ‘may the fourth be with you…’
June 3rd – World Bicycle Day

I sometimes wonder how many people are aware of certain World Days. Does the whole world really celebrate Sustainable Gastronomy of the 4th June? I’m sure it’s important but…

I was looking at Twitter earlier on today, and it told me that today is a special day, no surprises there. But actually, today is one I want to promote. Today is World Kindness Day.

I think kindness is a much underrated quality. It’s not flashy. It’s not trendy. It doesn’t make the headlines and doesn’t fill your bank account, but kindness has a simple yet profound ability to change the world, to transform a bad day into a good day.

In Colossians 3:12, the Bible says,

‘…as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.’

Try a simple smile to a stranger as you pass by in the street – and see what it does.
Try asking how are you, actually meaning it.
Try offering someone a cup of tea.
Try opening a door for someone.
Try speaking to someone who you don’t normally speak to.
Try giving without expecting back.
Try saying I’m sorry, even if it costs you to do so.
Try saying I forgive you, even if you don’t want to.

A day when we all try treating each other like this? That’s a day worth celebrating.