Kindness That Seems Effortless

"The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?'  But... the good Samaritan reversed the question:  'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'"
―Martin Luther King, Jr.

The last couple of days have been... well, two of those kinds of days where you wonder how it will all get done.  Today had already been a long day when I found myself by late afternoon waiting at swim practice and at wit's end given that I could not figure out how to get to a meeting at my children's school that I was assured by the school director I needed to attend.  And then one of those angels on earth -- one of my very important villagers -- crossed my path.  She approached my car and asked me if it would help if she took my children until 7 pm.  (My meeting was at 6 pm.)  I could hardly believe it.  It wasn't just that she helped me, but it was the effortless "it's not a big deal" way with which she did it.  Easy, breezy.  With a wave and a smile, she piled my children into her van and off she went -- to feed them, to help me...  And all with a gracious generosity that is at the heart of true kindness.