Be Kind

June 24, 2024
by Tammy Phillips

Be kind. (Eph. 4:32)

A little background to this story…

After being gone from home for two weeks, we arrived stateside to a 24-hour delay of our flight home to Nashville. And better yet, American Airlines decided to give us a round trip, all-expenses-paid day trip to Long Island. Our not so luxurious, sleepy Holiday Inn Express with the air conditioner in the window was nestled between 3.5 starred, Bryant and Cooper Steakhouse and Long Island Sports Cars where you could pick up an Aston Martin or McLaren.

It really was a peaceful area with a gorgeous nursery across the street and exclusive shopping just a half mile away at American Manhasset with the likes of Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Dior.

We made the best of it. We ignored the 3.5 rating of restaurant next door. We joined a room full of Long Islanders for a very memorable New York kind of dinner! Delizioso!

After a long sleep, I wandered downstairs for coffee. This is where the kindest of a tiny, little old woman who couldn’t have reached four feet tall changed by day. She was bent over plagued by kyphosis, holding her own paper plate breakfast and coffee. She saw me coming but the elevator was three quarters the way shut. She paused to be kind. It was a struggle for her to stand and carry her load, but she paused to be kind. Her actions were so gracious! They changed my day.

Delays can be blessings. She delayed and blessed me!

I enCOURAGE you to embrace the delay and be kind! Stop. Pause. Maybe your seconds can change someone’s 24 hours!