You can make a difference in the lives of others -- in your family, school, church, community, and world! The world needs you -- your ideas, your compassion, and your spiritual outlook. And, it’s never too late to start contributing. The best gifts are those from the heart.

Since the Hot Topic this month is on charity, it makes sense to put into practice what we know about charity. The recent hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes are giving us plenty of opportunity to be charitable. Thanksgiving also offers us the chance to help with food, toys, and clothing drives for those less fortunate than ourselves.

One of the definitions of “charity” is: “Any act of kindness or benevolence” (Webster). So, let’s express charity.

Make November Kindness Month
Let’s do what the slogan says: “Practice random acts of kindness.”
You can decide to practice kindness acts:

• as an individual
• as a school club or class activity
• through your church
• as a family.

However you choose to start, you may want to think about these ideas:

• Be aware of those around you. Look for those who really need kind treatment, and reach out to them.
• Be quiet about your kindness. Don’t go bragging about what neat things you did for others.
• Be kind in secret. Sometimes it’s fun not to let anyone, not even the recipient of your kindness, know what kind thing you did.
• Have secret pals and then have a party at the end of the month to find out who was partnered with whom.

Here are some helpful hints to get started:

• See what the needs are in your family, school, church, community that will make the most difference. Ask around if no needs are obvious to you.
• Look for resources. There are books and websites dedicated to encouraging and recording acts of kindness. All you need to do is type in “acts of kindness” in your search engine, and you’ll be led right to them. See Web Sites on Kindness box on the right side of this page.
• Since this month’s BibleWise focus is on Luke, you might want to read up to find out what Luke has to say about Jesus.
• You can also flip through your Bible to see for yourself what Jesus, his apostles, the Old Testament prophets and patriarchs did to help people.

Why is being kind so important? How will it make a difference?
One of the most important aspects of charity, of love, is being kind. St. Paul tells us this in I. Cor. 13:4. In his explication of Paul’s letter, The Greatest Thing in the World, Henry Drummond (theologian, scientist, and professor) tells us about the importance and power of kindness:  

As we go through November doing kind things to others, let’s remember that in order to be kind, we need to refuse even to be tempted to criticize, gossip, talk trash about others, be negative; get upset, irritated, or frustrated; argue, fight, mope around, expect the worst, etc.

The whole point about Kindness Month is being kind -- compliment, encourage, take care of others, look for the best, share, do good to others, forgive, stay calm, be happy, etc.

When we are kind to others, we are giving one of the most important gifts we can give to another. Let’s give kindness abundantly!