Staying in the Shadows

When my mom passed away I received several diamond paintings in the mail, they came anonymously and I checked with my usual suspects of people and no one claimed sending them. The week of her birthday I received another diamond painting in the mail, and again the week of her celebration of life. No one, would claim sending these, this was an incredibly sweet gesture that someone wanted me to know that they were thinking of me but wanted to keep it anonymous.

It’s hard because I wanted to at the very least thank the person and two I was very curious as to who this person was. But this person chose to stay in the shadows as it were.

Selfishly I wanted to know who sent them for so many reasons and after a while I gave up trying to figure it out. I realized that I didn’t really need to know who sent the gifts, it was just nice to know that someone else was thinking about me wanted me to know.

It was a small act of kindness that really helped in a hard time. But isn’t it the smallest acts of kindness that sometimes make the biggest ripples in the waters of our lives?

We all need that small ripple from time to time, we need others to pick us up and help us along in our journey. We need to be reminded that someone cares.

When the time is right, we should continue that ripple effect and carry on the kindness to the next person, we can do by staying in the shadows.

Sometimes staying in the shadows, feels like the best or right thing to do. Sometimes it is just easier to stay in the shadows. When people gift anonymously they do so because they want goodness to shine through and not have it cluttered by other factors.

The pandemic allowed for people to embrace the shadows. Sending gifts through Amazon, having meals delivered, showing people that we cared about them, that we were thinking about them.

As we are coming out the pandemic, I am hopeful that people will continue to stay in the shadows, building people up, surprising people with gifts, and letting people know that someone is thinking about them.

Staying in the shadows allows us to be kind to one another and watch them enjoy the gift from a far. With no expectations of acknowledgment.

Until next time,

Juli