l was laying here tonight looking at this lovely canvas my friend/neighbor Laura gave to me awhile back … it’s covered with little phrases like “Unleash Your Joy,” “Embrace Your Truth” and “Trust Your Creative Spirit.”
The one that struck me tonight, however, was “Collect Moments of Kindness.”
I had obviously read it before, but I was always skimming over it too quickly… thinking it was referring to spreading kindness to others, or acknowledging the kind gestures that have been directed at me. But it doesn’t say either of those things. It says to collect them.
Now, I’ve never been much of a collector. Growing up my friend Katie collected Precious Moments figurines, another friend collected porcelain china dolls, but I never had a desire to have a curio cabinet filled with only one thing.
I prefer things that are mismatched. Unique. Eclectic.
But moments of kindness… that is something of which I could become a collector. It’s stunning for me to realize that the concept isn’t just a given, that it has to be a conscious choice, but it does. I am a woman who has been gifted with more kindnesses than I could ever keep track of in my lifetime. Some have been huge gestures, some have been accidental, some have been material, some have been moments that could only be seen with the heart. I have been given the smallest of words that have filled me up and spilled over into every aspect of my life… kindnesses that could not be contained.
The question is, did I choose to accept them, acknowledge them and then let them go… awaiting the next kindness to befall me? Or did I collect them? Do I still have them stored in my curio cabinet where, when I have a day that needs something beautiful to happen, I can pull out the memory to admire it and appreciate it as though it was just given that day?
I’ve decided to become a collector. Don’t get me wrong… I am constantly and abundantly blessed by unexpected and undeserved kindnesses all the time. But I realized today that when things are difficult – when one thing after another pops up and some new thing goes wrong – all I have to do is stop in the middle of the madness and view my collection. Nothing new has to happen to make things better. Nothing has to change… I just have to look at what I already have.
I have a collection of kindnesses that constantly remind me how much my blessings far outweigh anything else that may come along. How can I have a bad day when my collection stacks the deck in my favor?
So tell me, are you going to choose to be a collector?