BY WALT ALBRITTON
OPINION —
In recent years we have become aware of the phrase, “little acts of kindness.” This awesome idea has caused many of us to show others acts of kindness in small ways.
Two examples come to mind: First, you are in line at the toll bridge, and you decide to pay the toll for the person in the car behind you. Second, you are in a restaurant, and you ask the waitress to secretly let you pay the bill for someone at a table near you. I have been the recipient of those two acts of kindness: it was like being surprised by joy. And I have found joy by doing those two acts of kindness for others.
Jesus did many great things during his earthly ministry; we call them miracles. But he also did many little things that blessed people. I love the kindness he showed a deaf man with a speech impediment. When people begged Jesus to heal the man, a crowd gathered. Jesus led the man aside, “so they could be alone.” He spared the poor man from the embarrassment of having a crowd of people gawking at him while Jesus healed him (Mark 7:31-35). A beautiful, sensitive act of kindness!
Growing up as a child, I saw no Bible or devotional book on the table in the kitchen. Years later my father decided to live seriously as a disciple of Jesus. From that day forward, there was always a Bible and The Upper Room devotional guide on the kitchen table. That was a little thing but it a blessing to me and my siblings, a reminder that our dad was a growing disciple of Jesus.
Years after his death, I decided that in honor of dad I would also read The Upper Room daily, as a constant reminder that God had blessed me with a father who loved Jesus. It is a little thing but something God has used to bless me. One example is a recent devotional written by Carol Westerlund of Finland. Perhaps Carol’s words will melt your heart as they did mine:
“My brother Tommy was intellectually disabled and lived in a group home. Because I lived in another country, I did not visit him in person. One day I decided to start sending him postcards so he would remember that he had a sister who loved him. I wrote him regularly. I would choose a picture, write out my greeting, and send it across the sea. Recently Tommy passed. After his death, the personnel at his group home gave the postcards to my mother. Tommy had saved them. The staff told my mother that Tommy had slept with the postcards under his pillow every night and that he wouldn’t let anyone touch them because they were so precious to him. It moved my heart deeply to know that an action of mine that was so small had meant so much to my brother.”
Tears welled up in my eyes as I read that. I started praising Jesus for Carol and the beautiful way she served Jesus by doing a little thing for her brother. Carol never knew whether or not the cards meant something to her brother — until after his death. I might have stopped sending the cards after a few weeks, but she persisted without any thanks from her brother.
I might have listened to the devil; surely he told Carol that because her brother’s mind was impaired, the cards were useless, and the postage was a waste of money. But Carol ignored the devil and kept on sending her brother the cards. So today I will shout GLORY to praise God for a little thing that made an awesome difference for Carol’s disabled brother!
My mother, Caroline, lived to be 95. She had 33 surgeries in Jackson Hospital and lived for 35 years with a colostomy bag after an operation for cancer. She never complained. We had a large family; she was the oldest of 13 children. I am the oldest of 55 grandchildren on my mother’s side of the family.
Despite her handicaps, my mother continued her habit of sending birthday cards to at least a hundred family members and friends. We were not poor, but mom and dad never had much money. Yet at Christmas we all had a gift under the tree from mother.
For the last 35 years of her life, my mother gave me and my siblings a copy of the annual GUIDEPOSTS devotional for Christmas. The book cost ten dollars. It was a little thing that made a profound difference in my life. After my mother died, my sister Neva, now 90, began giving GUIDEPOSTS to others as Mamma had done. So one of the devotionals that I read every morning is the 2025 GUIDEPOSTS, titled “Walking in Grace.” It costs a bit more than ten dollars now, but Neva is blessing others by doing that little thing that her mom had done.
While I served as for 13 years as one of the pastors of Trinity Church in Opelika, I renewed my friendship with Jim and Linda Warren, who were members of my church. They had been members of another church I had served in years past. I began writing a column for the newspaper in 1990 and have continued to do that now for 35 years. One day Linda Warren asked for my mother’s address. She began clipping my articles out of the paper and mailing them to my mother. She did that every week from 1990 until my mother died on April 19, 1998. It was a little thing that meant a lot to my mother.
In the year 2006, my friend Lindora began sending a check every year to Alfred Kalembo to help him send an orphan to school in Zambia. She has continued sending that check to Alfred for two decades. There are more than a million orphans in Zambia. Lindora could not help all of them go to school. But her small gift helped a few orphaned children obtain an education.
After my brother Seth died, Corine Free shared with me that Seth had been giving her a little money every year for several years to help her buy school supplies for her classroom. He had never shared that with me or others. He wanted no recognition for a little thing he was doing to make a difference in the ministry of a teacher he admired.
In the spring of 2025, the people of Saint James Church celebrated the life of Vernon Scott. We shared how Vernon did a beautiful little thing that blessed others. He discovered he could secure at no cost copies of a small leather-bound, pocket-sized book titled The Life and Teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.
Vernon secured dozens of the little book. He kept them in his car so he could hand them out to people. He would find people begging on the streets and highways, and he would give them a copy of the book. Often, he would also give the stranger a few dollars for a hamburger.
We saw Vernon sing in the choir and participate in the life of our church, but few of us knew Vernon was also doing a unique little thing for people Jesus called “the least of these my brothers.” But never doubt this: Jesus knew what Vernon was doing. And He knows what little things you and I are doing for the least of our brothers and sisters.
Many of you, reading this, are already doing little things, small acts of love and kindness that bless others. I applaud you for what you are doing. I believe Jesus is pleased with the little things we do to bless others. I want to encourage you to keep on doing those little acts of love and kindness –as an expression of your love for Jesus.
I cannot tell you what little things you might begin doing as acts of love and kindness for others, but Jesus can. So, ask him. Ask him every day. He will guide you and reveal little things you can do to bless others. It might be sending someone who is grieving a card, a letter or a book – or a hamburger. It might be a giving someone an encouraging phone call – or a visit. Whatever it is, remember this: there is not a single person anywhere who cannot do little things for Jesus that will make a difference in someone’s life.
If you forget all I have written, never forget what Mother Teresa said: “We cannot all do great things, but we can all do small things with great love.” A truly magnificent summation of the way God wants us to live!
Is there a biblical basis for doing little acts of love and kindness? I will let our friend John, one of the apostles, answer that:
“But if someone who is supposed to be a Christian has money enough to live well, and sees a brother in need, and won’t help him—how can God’s love be within him? Little children, let us stop just saying we love people; let us really love them, and show it by our actions” (1 John 3:17-18).
Dear friends, let us stay busy really loving people until the Lord calls us home!