A Kindness Challenge – Spring Cleaning For the Heart in Shady Pines
A Kind Way To Welcome Spring
Welcome back Good Readers. Spring has officially sprung!
The birds are chirping a little louder and the daffodils are peeking through the soil.
There’s a fresh breeze blowing through the streets of Shady Pines Story Town.
It’s that wonderful time of year when we throw open the windows to let the sunshine in! Folks seem to have a spring in their step and a smile on their face.
Usually, when it comes to spring cleaning we think of grabbing a broom to sweep out the garage or dusting off the bookshelves.
But in Shady Pines, we like to think about a different kind of tidying up—one that happens on the inside.
And this year something special is afoot. We’re introducing the Spring Cleaning of the Heart: Wake-Up Challenge—a simple week of sweeping away Winter grumpiness and filling up with kindness.
To The Rescue
If you look over yonder, you’ll see Kim Dunworthy starting things off. While making her daily rounds our reliable mail delivery gal makes a stop at the Sanders family’s backyard.
She notices Boomerang, an Australian Shepherd dog, looking a little down. Word around town is that one of his best pals left when the Labrador’s family moved away.
Instead of rushing past, Kim pauses, scratches his ears, and says, “Boomer, you’re the best buddy in town—thanks for always wagging hello!” Boomer’s bobbed tail shakes from side to side. “I know it was tough to see Buster go, wasn’t it?
“Hi ya Kim,” says Boomer. Boomer lowers his gaze. “He was one of my best friends.”
Kim understands. “It’s hard to say goodbye when a friend leaves, but, hey, you still have your sister.”
Boomer growls quietly under his breath. Kim looks around. “Oh, c’mon. Where is Halley anyway?”
Boomer sighs, pivots to his right and looks straight ahead at a flowering shrub. “She’s in there. Hiding.”
Kim squints. “Why?”
Boomer shakes his head. “The knucklehead was chasing a bird and knocked over one of mom’s favorite flowerpots. Broke it into pieces.”
Kim puts her sack of mail down on the ground. “That was just an accident,” she says. “Halley! Halley please come out and say hello!”
A little pink nose with long, dark whiskers pokes out through the flowers. Within seconds, a silver streak of a cat is bounding towards them. Halley’s Comet is in full flight!
“Kim,” gasps Halley. “Thank goodness you’re here. I need help to fix things.”
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Let’s Fix This With Teamwork
Edna Sanders peers out the back window of her kitchen and sees Kim Dunworthy talking to Boomer and Halley. “I wonder what’s going on out there?”
Edna Strides across the backyard. “Hi Kim. It’s good to see you. What’s all this?”
“Oh, no. Boomer I’m gonna be in so much trouble. Yep, I really think I’m in trouble,” worries Halley. “I hope mom can forgive me.”
Boomer looks at her and shrugs. “She probably will. For some reason, which I will never understand, she has more patience for you than I do.”
“I hope you’re right,” says Halley.
“I see Boomer and Halley have come to see you Kim,” says Edna.
Kim smiles. “Actually Boomer was the first to say hello. But I had to encourage Halley to come out and say hi.”
Edna looks surprised as she reaches down to pick up Halley. “That’s not like her. Are you okay girl?”
Kim clears her throat. “I think we have a little problem with a broken flowerpot?”
Edna is shocked. “That old thing? Halley, I know you didn’t mean to break it.”
Halley snuggles closer to Edna. “Thank you mom.”
Edna gently puts Halley down on the ground. “Kim, I really appreciate you telling me this. I had no idea.”
“No problem,” says Kim.
Turning to her kids, Edna says, “how about the three of us put that pot back together and make it look like new?”
Special Notes and A Checklist
As Kim left the Sanders behind she had an idea. She is now inspired by the kindness and forgiveness she just saw from Edna.
Kim decides she’s going to write extra notes like: “thank you for being you, and “you’re awesome” messages and tuck them into the mailboxes along her route.
“It’ll be my way of spreading kindness.”
Now that Edna and her four-legged children are busy with their patch-up project, and Kim’s daily rounds carry smiles door to door, it’s time for the rest of us to get cracking.
Let’s take that Wake Up Challenge: a Spring Cleaning of the Heart.
Download our free printable checklist at the link and let’s start sweeping!
The idea behind this challenge is that we can all experience what the close knit community of Shady Pines Story Town already knows. These neighbors realize that a clean heart starts with one kind act. Once kindness gets started, it wakes up every heart around it, shining bright all Spring long!
