No Act of Kindness is Ever Wasted

Last week was an absolutely horrible week. Work was stressful and frustrating. I made a new friend that I was excited about only to lose him shortly afterwards to a job in another state. I lost another dear friend finally to the changing tides of life that I’ve fought hard against for years. I spent most of the week being reminded of all my failures and inadequacies. I felt utterly alone and in need of more love than I dared ask anyone to give. I try so hard to give everything I have to the people around me, but so often, I come home feeling empty inside and alone.

Last Wednesday was a particularly bad day and by the time I made it home from work I had spent half the day crying and the other half hating every single person and thing around me. I stopped to check my mail only to find that I had a birthday present from my best friend, Jamie. My birthday was still 5 days away but I wanted to be cheered up so desperately that I decided to open it early.

Jamie always gives me wonderful gifts....but when I opened this one I broke down crying harder than I have in months because it was so incredibly special and exactly what I needed in that moment. It was a framed sheet of paper listing 27 reasons why I am her best friend. I sat clutching the frame for several minutes while I got all of the crying out of my system. Every single reason she listed hit home so hard, and many of them were the same reasons she is my best friend.

Jamie lives in North Carolina, but in that moment, I felt more loved and cared for by someone over 2,000 miles away than by anyone living here. That is the true power of a best friend.

It was only a piece of paper with a few humble sentences printed on it, but it meant the world to me. I admire her for even trying to list out the reasons we are friends. I could fill hundreds of pages with all of my reasons and still not find an end.

I often wonder if the things I do for people really matter...really mean anything to them after the moment I do them. And for some people, they probably don’t. But Jamie is a testament to the fact that sometimes they do matter. You don’t maintain any kind of relationship with someone for 22 years unless you got a few things right. And the things is, Jamie is one of the people who has inspired me to keep giving, keep trying, keep loving even when things seem useless and impossible and hopeless. I try to be a better person every day because of her.

Aesop’s saying that “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted,” really is true. It will either help someone else.....or it will help you through the act of giving it. Trying to add up all of Jamie’s acts of kindness in my life would be like trying to count all the stars in the heavens. There are simply too many. But every one of them has mattered to me.

Jamie is my best friend and my sister. She is my partner in crime and is present in every single memory I have growing up. She has supported me at every twist and turn in life in every way a person can be supported. She has loved me unconditionally for 22 years and is the one person who would be right at my side even if I stood with hundreds against me. She is the one blessing God granted me that keeps making its presence known with each passing day.

“People are like stained glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is light from within.” (Elisabeth Kubler-Ross). 

Jamie....you are the stained glass window of my life! Words can’t begin to tell you how much I love you or how thankful I am for you.