My favorite aspect of the Book of Ruth is the way it highlights the great kindness that they show to one another. Ruth showed amazing kindness to Naomi by staying with her, even though they were both widows. Boaz showed wonderful kindness toward Ruth when he instructed his workers to be good to her and to even leave a little extra in the field on purpose so she would have plenty to glean. He even called her in to eat with him for a lunch break and gave her extra grain to take home with her to Naomi.
Are there ways that we can show more kindness to others? Do we really make every effort to be kind? I remember a speaker at my school years ago who proposed this thought, “What if everyone smiled twice as often? What wold that do to the atmosphere of your school?”
It’s such a simple concept, but it could make such a huge difference. I think kindness works the same way. If we could walk out into the world each day with a goal of showing simple acts of kindness to people around us, what would that do to the atmosphere of our world?
It’s like the butterfly effect. An article in American Scientist (found here) attributes the concept to Edward Lorenz, who posed this question in his talk at the 139th meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” The idea is to acknowledge how even small changes in very complex systems can lead to a chain of reactions that has unpredictable outcomes.
Lorenz’s idea led to two very different applications of this theory. On one hand, an entire field of study, chaos theory, grew largely from consideration of his thought. Chaos theory has been used to attempt to find patterns in seemingly random phenomena and has been applied in many contexts.
On the other hand, a pop culture trend has grown from Lorenz/s idea of the butterfly effect. It proposes that even the simplest action that we might take can lead to a great impact on our world. But it also includes the realization that such an impact is almost impossible to predict. The idea is both terrifying and motivating. I have no idea what chain of events I initiate with each decision I make in my life, so how can I take steps to improve my impact on the world?
I would like to propose the idea that one strategy to improve our impact on the world is to simply focus on kindness. If we make a goal for ourselves to show simple acts of kindness to friends, family, and even strangers around us every day, can we lead to a tornado of good works?
If you spend any time on social media, I’m sure you’ve seen one of the videos that goes around every once in a while that shows a person doing something nice, and then the recipient of that kindness is motivated to do something nice for someone else, who then goes on to do something nice for another person, and that keeps going through a string of people, each passing the kindness along to someone else. I must admit, even I roll my eyes at some of those videos now and then for how overly sentimental they can get. But let’s not overlook the message.
How many chain reactions of kindness can I set in motion today?
Jesus, You showed great kindness throughout Your life. Each time You healed someone or forgave their sins, or even just turned water to wine for a wedding feast, someone’s life was forever altered. Help us to realize that, even though we can’t necessarily heal the sick with a simple touch, we can also change someone’s life. Guide us to find the small ways we can change our actions that lead to great impacts in our world.