Simple acts of mercy...

This morning as I prayer walked through the neighborhood, I asked God to immerse me more into the lives of the people here. I live here and do ministry here, but many times I feel distant from the people. I think sometimes I unknowingly put up a wall so my kindness won't be taken advantage of. Since I live here, if I do one thing for someone in the neighborhood, often several other people will come to me asking me to do the same thing for them. I usually tell them no, because God puts certain people on my heart and that is what I follow. But, in order to keep everyone from coming to me, constantly asking for things, I keep a distance between myself and certain people in the neighborhood. This can be good to a certain extent, but often I let it stop me from following my heart when it comes to loving on people. So today, as I was prayer walking I asked God to help me to stop and be kind to each one along the way, whether that was a smile, a conversation, or anything He was leading me to do. Each morning there is a couple who faithfully sits on their front porch. I always walk past them and say hello, but they often have walls up, so their hello back to me isn't always the kindest. Today when I walked away from them, I had a desire in my heart to grab some bottles of water from my apartment to give to them. It was already very hot and I was praying that this act of mercy would break down some walls. I handed the water to them and said, "I'm so glad you're my neighbors and that I get to see you each morning when I walk." They smiled and thanked me. There were several other people out as well and it was just so much fun and refreshing to stop for a moment and just talk to them or compliment them. I felt so much lighter, like I didn't have to protect myself, but that I could be myself and be kind without fear of being taken advantage of. THANK YOU my God of Kindness!