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What Good Have I Done Today?
Benjamin Franklin
asked himself this very question every night before retiring.
And every morning before rising, he asked, “What good shall I do
today?”
It is a wonderful
guidepost for living, wouldn’t you agree?
If each of us where
to ask these very questions of ourselves our lives might be
completely different. What good shall I do today? And what
if we were to measure our successes not on our material gain or
on the physical appearance of our reality, but on the amount of
good we are able to bring forth in the lives of others. The
world would truly be a better place.
My family has been
having a great time watching the movie “Evan Almighty” We bought
it the first day it came out on video and someone watches it or
parts of it, at least once a week. Well, in the movie, Evan, a
US congressman and the modern day Noah, prays to be able to
change the world, and his answer comes in the form of a request
from God to build an ark. God, played by Morgon Freeman, tells
Evan, that the only way to change the world is by Acts of Random
Kindness. A.R.K. Great stories are
built around great truths, wouldn’t you agree?
So what good shall I
do today? I asked myself this very question this morning before
getting out of bed. It put me in alignment with the intention
to “do good”. I thought if a great man like Benjamin Franklin
did this every day, it might be a good idea to try it myself, at
least once. So I started my day with the intent to do good by
doing acts of random kindness. I have made an account of the
things that I have done throughout the day, so that I might
share the experience with you.
So, what good have I
done today? Well, I found a way to say, “Yes” to my kids all
day today, in the spirit of love. I arranged a play date for my
son. He loves it when I do this for him. His favorite thing is
playing with friends. I prepared dinner in advance so we could
eat together before I had to dart off to a speaking engagement.
I remained silent when my 3 year old daughter decided that
catsup would make a great medium for an art project with the
kitchen table as a canvas. I allowed cars to cut in front of me
on the road and allowed people to go first at the stores. There
was a surprising result of deciding to do good and that was the
rewards that seemed to flow endlessly to me.
My day was filled
with blessing from others. A friend let me borrow some personal
development material that I had been searching for. People on
the road were as nice to me as I was intending to be to them and
my house was the most peaceful it has ever been. My 5 year old
son greeted my 11 year old daughter singing songs celebrating
the fact that she was home from school.
Was the world changed
by my small sometimes unnoticed Acts of Random Kindness, I have
to believe that it was. They say that the more in tune you are
to your connection with our creator, the faster the results of
our intentions. I am not sure if anyone else had an awakening
of sorts, but my life was changed in some small way. I became
infinitely aware of the effects of my actions towards others as
the results of my doing good seemed to echo back goodness
throughout the day. Karma seemed to happen instantly. There is
power in giving, I felt that energy flowing to me and through me
with every random act. The blessing was truly in the giving.
Don’t get me wrong, I
know I am not on the playing field with Mother Teresa, Gandhi, or
even Joseph Hook (a local man who runs a refugee center), but doing good today gave me inspiration to do
more. And who knows maybe someday, I’ll be able to play ball.
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