Isaiah 6:8 (NIV) says "I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? And I said, Here am I. Send me!" All of us have answered this call to action at various times in our lives to join God in his eternal mission of loving, helping, saving, unifying and redeeming people in our world. Answering the call involves helping others, which often requires us to display a strong dose of kindness and compassion.
This week is national “Kindness Week.” However, GSS Agents do not confine their expression of kindness to one week of the year. They regularly conduct random or secret/planned acts of kindness as a normal part of their everyday lives. When we are kind to others, our generosity benefits us just as much, if not more than the people we help. Both the GSS Agents and our “secret mission assignments” (the people we help) experience many positive benefits of the kindness exchange that are good for our mind, body and spirit.
One way to practice and demonstrate kindness is to spy out and conduct secret surveillance of people and circumstances around us every day to identify needs. We do this by keeping our eyes open, actively listening, observing and making mental notes when we notice a need or hear someone around us expressing a need he or she has. Doing this regularly gives us clues to ways that we can plan and conduct secret missions/acts of kindness to help provide encouragement, ease suffering, or express the love of Christ to those around us.
GSS Agents have fun expressing kindness! We enlist the help of friends or family members as our coconspirators to stake out our “mission assignments.” We then plan what we want to do for them and how we will do it without them knowing that we were the “Spy Who Loved Them.”
As GSS Agents plan and conduct secret missions of kindness we experience:
Increased levels of Oxytocin, often called the “love hormone,” which helps to lower our blood pressure, increase our self-esteem and lower our heart rates;
A “helper’s high” caused by firing up the pleasure center of our brains;
Increased levels of Serotonin, the “feel good” juices that help to reduce anxiety, increase overall feelings of happiness, and is also said to help heal our physical wounds;
Increased energy and strength to complete our tasks; and
Reduced feelings of depression.
Being kind can also improve our physical health and increase our life span! According to Christine Carter, Author of “Raising Happiness: In Pursuit of Joyful Kids and Happier Parents, “People who volunteer tend to experience fewer aches and pains. Giving helps to protect overall health twice as much as aspirin protects against heart disease. People 55 and older who volunteer for two or more organizations have an impressive 44% lower likelihood of dying early, and that’s after sifting out every other contributing factor, including physical health, exercise, gender, habits like smoking, marital status and many more. This is a stronger effect than exercising four times a week or going to church.” Wow! That’s pretty powerful!
Being kind and generous is also pleasing to God and helps us to carry out God’s instructions for us to love one another.
Thank you for answering the call to become one of God's Secret Service Agents! If you are not signed up yet, what are you waiting for? Join our movement (https://www.gssagents.org/gss-agent-signup) and experience the joy, fulfillment and benefits of helping to bring hope to others through your secret acts of kindness!
Source: https://www.randomactsofkindness.org/the-science-of-kindness
