It also benefits you

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. (Proverbs 3:3 NIV)

There are a special happiness and contentment that comes from putting others and their needs above your own. When you’re doing something kind for someone, it doesn’t just benefit them, it also benefits you. The happiness that comes through kind and caring and generous actions is not a light or frivolous satisfaction or pleasure; it’s a much deeper feeling of fulfilment.

You are letting the Spirit of God’s love into the world around you, into the lives of others, and into your own life.

Doing something kind and generous for someone else often takes effort, and yet each time you do it, you realize that it’s the best way to live. It’s all about noticing others, appreciating them, looking not just at them but into them.

Look for ways to make someone else’s day or week a little brighter, a little more enjoyable, a little more relaxing, a little more fun, a little less stressful, a little less burdened, a little less weary, a little less limiting. As you do, you’re making your own day or week the same.

Look for Jesus in others and let them see Jesus in you too. – Jesus [1]

The best portion of a good man’s life is the little, nameless, unremembered acts of kindness and love. - William Wordsworth

[1] Activated Love at Work