You Never Know….

Those who read my post know that I push kindness. There have been many a boiling cauldron that has been extinguished by kindness showing a better way to resolve a hot mess.

This summer, I have been hired by the city to participate in the park parties that they will have in various parts of the city, a total of 7 parties. There was live music, food vendors, games setup, the city officials were there to answer any question people may have and even the library people were there setup explaining about their summer program.  Then there was me, the face painter – hey we made the newspaper. Cool.

I have been face painting since early 2000s and do it more for the fun of it than to make money. Don’t get me wrong, you can make some serious money if you get real good but that is not my focus. I charge enough to buy more paint because I buy the professional stuff which isn’t cheap, but safer to use.

If you see that yellow paper behind my young model, those are the 6 faces I would paint for this particular party. They will change each party. This model is getting a jaguar face. They really don’t care how great it is, they just want to play – so lets play. I will post some periodically through the summer so you can see how much fun we are having.

OK, so there is a story behind the title and I am getting there. This neighborhood is close to my church so I am familiar with some of the kids as I have done other functions at this park. There is a home of mentally and physically challenged that we have done things with so I knew some of the guys(adults) that were in line to get their face painted. The first guy came in and could talk real well and wanted the 3 horned dinosaur. He loved it and I chuckled with him as he laughed in the mirror. The next guy was in a wheel chair but could walk a little. So they got him up and helped him get into the face paint chair. His right arm was drawn in and not usable but his left arm was good and with that arm he pointed to his shirt. He had on a power ranger shirt. I don’t like doing the super heroes as they are BORING in face paint but for him, sure. So we did the red power ranger. He could not speak but could hear and understand very well and he was super excited on how well his face looked. He tapped his chest in a gesture of him loving it and I patted his hand and told him I was glad, and he smiled. They got him back in his chair and I went to the next child. But before I could get started good, I heard the guy from the wheel chair come beside my booth. His caretaker said “He wants you to have his star.” I asked her if he had made it and she said yes and showed me all the things he carried with him that he had made. I almost cried. I told him thank you and to come back to see me.  Here is the star.

My whole point in this post is to remind everyone to never pass on an opportunity to be kind and gentle. No small act of kindness is ever wasted. I have always believed this but this was an opportunity where God affirmed just how much kindness matters. So always be kind.