ARK -- Acts of Random Kindness

According to God in Evan Almighty we need to have an ARK in our lives--not just once in a while, but everyday. Evan had wanted to "Change the World." It was his campaign promise. He asked God how he was going to be able to Change the World. God answered him, "Put an ARK in your life." Evan told him that he was doing that--he was building an ark. God told him not an ark, but an ARK, an Act of Random Kindness, built into your day, everyday.

The commercial that is for one of the insurance companies (I think) shows the perfect examples of ARK. The acts that people do, see and then do something for others is the wonderful way that God helps Evan learn how to change the world. We also could learn from these teachings. We don't have to be a community, city, county, state, nation of mean & rude, self-serving, unruly, unloving, greedy people. We should not expect everything to be given to us. We are reminded that those that originally came to this land had to work very hard just to stay alive--let alone to live either meagerly or prosperously. We have always been a nation that works and toils to receive and maintain the rights and freedoms that were so important to those first coming to this land. We should not expect our governments to do for us that that we will not do for ourselves.

We live in an area where Hurricane Katrina led many to the ARK way of life. However, in the process, some have become rude, selfish, and greedy, expecting people to give, give, give and not do anything to help do for themselves. They have become accustomed to the government paying for their housing, their food, and have not tried to achieve a livelihood that includes paying for their own home food, or anything else. They want everything handed to them from either a charitable organization, people that want to see them out of their plight or from the government. I wonder, are any of these people truly thankful for all they have received? Are they thankful for the help and kindnesses shown to them? Many I see that are working so hard to rise from the water and silt that still taints their lives are very thankful. Others though feel it is owed to them and are not at all thankful, but are still demanding more. How can these people be like this? Have we become so greedy and self-serving as a nation that there is no thankfulness left? I certainly hope not.

As part of the resolutions by President Lincoln and then President Roosevelt, we, as a nation, have set apart a day to be thankful for all of the ARKs in our lives, all the ARKs we can give to others, our families, our health, our careers, our friends, and any and everything else that we can be thankful for. We are the only nation (I think) that has a recognized national holiday where we should remember the things to be thankful for; as we have SO MUCH to be thankful for.


This last month has brought about ARKs and things for us to be thankful for in an unforseen manner. To begin with, today is November 25--so the first I will mention is that my son and his wife are celebrating their first anniversary. I don't hear from him, so I am hoping that this was a good year for the two of them.


I have already told about my daughter and her ARK--bringing home the kitten that had been dumped on her campus. Jaspar has been such a joy to watch as he grows and plays. We are very thankful for this ARK and I'm sure that Jaspar is also! After all, instead of foraging for scraps of food, left around campus by the students, he now has a home with other cats to play with and 2 dogs that not only tolerate him, but also will curl up with him to sleep and keep him warm.

The week before Thanksgiving we had a very sick cat, Oreo was taken to the vet and stayed for 2 days receiving IV treatments and being force fed. The doctor never could figure out what had made him so sick and dehydrated! However, we were very lucky that with the IVs and the feedings we were able to revive him back to his old playful self.


In the process, I had an ARK of my own. When I went to pick him up I saw in the cage next to Oreo's at the vet's office was this little, itty, bitty white and strawberry blonde kitten. The tag on the cage said, "One month old male, looking for a home." I told the vet, that if he was still there when we brought Oreo in for a recheck, I would probably take him home with me. Well the following week, I picked up Oreo and there was the little kitten, climbing the bars on the cage door. I just couldn't resist. This kitten had already had one ARK bestowed up on him--someone found him in a ditch alongside one of the busiest roads in town and brought him to the vet. Now we were going to take him home with us to give him a loving home to grow up in. To give you an idea of how tiny Mater is, the box (in the picture) he is laying in is a 6" square box! The vet was concerned that it would not work well with all of our other animals and him being so small. However, Gus and Jasmin (the two dogs) have been his protectors, he is small enough to get into places the two older kittens (Oreo and Jaspar) can't get into anymore, the two older cats (Donnie and Savannah) have taken to him quite well and the oldest cat (Junie) who stays outdoors has not had any contact with him as he stays inside. So we are thankful for our newest (and hopefully the last) 4 legged edition to the family and for all the other 4 legged family members as well.


We are thankful and proud that our daughters are part of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College--Perkinston Pride of the South Band and will be traveling with the football team to Dallas for a bowl game. The team is undeafted and is the state champion for the junior/community colleges.


We are thankful for our family, wherever they are located, and that they are healthy and living life the way that they are wanting/wishing/felt led to/or how they should or need to at this point in time in their life. We are thankful for the men and women serving their country for the rights and freedoms that we all enjoy in the United States. We all know that freedom is not free and that it is with the blood of all those past and present that have bought and paid for the freedoms originally fought for over 200 years ago by the founding fathers (and brothers, sisters, mothers, wives, etc.) of our beautiful country. Whether any of us, now or those in the distant past, agree with the skirmishes, battles, or wars that are fought, there are always those that are proud of our service men, stand behind them no matter what our personal feelings are toward the ensuing battles, and forever thankful that they continue to fight for our freedoms. I am proud to say that our family is part of that population--and several of our family members have been apart of those serving our country to keep our rights and freedoms for us.


Those of us either attending or working at school, are thankful for this time of vacation. We were all in need of this brief vacation time to spend time preparing for Thanksgiving and the over done, over advertised, over zealous, over commercialized portion of this next 4 weeks of waiting. These 4 weeks of Advent are when we should be most thankful for the season of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

What ARK can you do today? What are you thankful today?