Editor’s note: “The Spoken Word” is shared by Derrick Porter each Sunday during the weekly Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square broadcast. This will be given Sunday, March 30, 2025. This is week No. 4,985 of the broadcast.
“Kindness is a lovely force,” said author Anne O. Leavitt, “but it can only be powered by people. For all our magical gadgets, no appliance, instrument, apparatus or device [can] extend kindness to another human being. That power is vested only in people” (see Anne O. Leavitt in “Pass It On,” The Foundation for a Better Life, www.passiton.com).
Kindness is a force propelled by people, and like waves in the ocean, acts of kindness are carried far beyond where the eye can see. “Kindness … opens doors and fashions friends. It softens hearts and molds relationships that can last lifetimes” (see “The Virtue of Kindness,” by Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Ensign or Liahona, May 2005, page 26). Because of one person’s kindness, generations can benefit.
I’m familiar with the story of a young man born nearly 100 years ago in a small farming community. His family was poor, and his father died young. To make ends meet, his mother spent long hours working as a seamstress at a factory in the city. Unnoticed by most, this young man spent his days playing pool in a billiard hall. One day, a kind man from the local church took notice of the drifting young man and approached him, asking if he might like to leave that little town and serve as a missionary. The young man responded that it would be impossible because he had no money. The older man persisted, and they agreed that if the funds could be raised, the young man would go. Within hours, the church congregation came together and raised the required money for the young man to serve.
The time spent in his missionary pursuits became life-changing, and the young man returned home a new man. He married, had children and spent the remainder of his days living a happy and productive life. Generations have now benefited from the kind invitation of one person and the kind acts of many in the town’s church congregation so many years ago.
The force of kindness is powered by people for people. As we think back to past kindnesses that have helped us, we can still feel the power of those simple acts. And as we look to the future, we can know that our own kind acts, like waves in the ocean, travel far beyond our sight and bless generations to come.
Tuning in …
The “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast is available on KSL-TV, KSL News Radio 1160AM/102.7FM, KSL.com, BYUtv, BYUradio, Dish and DirecTV, SiriusXM (Ch. 143), tabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/TheTabernacleChoir and Amazon Alexa (must enable skill). The program is aired live on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. Mountain Time on these outlets. Look up broadcast information by state and city at musicandthespokenword.com/viewers-listeners/airing-schedules.
