February is known as the month for celebrating love and remembering presidents, but it’s also the month for emphasizing kindness.

This year’s annual “Random Acts of Kindness Day” will be February 17.  “It is celebrated by individuals, groups and organizations, nationwide, to encourage acts of kindness,” according to the website for Random Acts of Kindness (RAK).

“Established in 1995, RAK is an internationally recognized nonprofit based in Denver, CO. We consist of a small team that is dedicated to inspiring everyone to practice and spread kindness in their own lives.” RAK reminds everyone, “Every day is an important day for kindness so we strongly encourage it daily.”

Their website lists “Kindness Ideas” such as run/walk a 5K for a cause, wheel out your neighbor’s trash bin, send an encouraging email, start a community garden, leave a generous tip, bake someone a cake, knit something, hold a Teddy bear drive, clean up trash around town, recycle newspapers, ship a care package, and the lists goes on.

Recently, a women’s group at my church has been learning the meaning of Biblical hospitality.  The course, written by Jen Schmidt, is called “Just Open the Door” by Jen Schmidt and is subtitled “How one invitation can change a generation.”

She reminds us that that by reaching out to others, we live Romans 12:13 which tells us to “practice hospitality.” She says, “I want my love for God and His love for me to spill out to those around me” in a tangible way.

Mother Teresa once said, “We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”  “We never can overestimate what some small little act of kindness can do for a person’s spirit,” writes Jim Daly of Focus on the Family.

Former Nebraska Governor Bob Kerry put it this way, “Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.”  Poet Maya Angelou stated, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

“I am only one, but I am one. I can’t do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will,” American author Edward Everett Hale once wrote.  He reminded readers, “Look up and not down; Look out and not in; Look forward and not back: and Lend a Hand.”  Novelist Henry James said, “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.”

Jesus taught His followers when He walked on the earth and His followers today about feeding the hungry, giving something to drink to the thirsty (even a cup of cold water), providing clothes to these in need, and visiting those in prison, “’Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me,’” (Matthew 25:40).

A quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. keeps coming to my mind lately, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’”

Jan White is an national award-winning religion columnist. She can be reached at jan@janwhitewriter.com.