SCRIPTURE: Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others and love. If you keep growing in this way, it will show that what you know about our Lord Jesus Christ has made your lives useful and meaningful. 2 Peter 1:5-8 (CEV) When I wore my red knit tuque (a knit hat) on a visit to Dorothy, a church shut-in, she said it needed a tassel. The next time I stopped she presented me with a blue tassel she’d made. I attached it to my hat with the two long threads she had left on the tassel for that purpose. Some fifteen years later I still wear the tasseled hat. Recently a nurse at our local nursing home told me “I like your red hat.” I responded, “It was just a plain red tuque until I was given the blue tassel to set it off. It was one gift a shut-in could share with me.” Dorothy’s act of kindness many years ago still brings joy to the hearts of many and offers me an opening to tell about God’s love through the loving act of a widow, who went to be with the Lord many years ago. Often, widows don’t give because they feel their gifts have become so limited. But they never know how far the ripples of their loving acts can and will travel. The red tuque is just one example in my life. Are there examples in your life that provide the opening to tell people you meet about God’s love? Prayer: We thank, Lord, for the saints who have entered our lives and made a difference through simple acts of kindness. Amen. ---Written by the Rev. Monte W. Holland, retired United Methodist Church pastor and interim chaplain at Bethlen Communities in Ligonier, PA. | 
