Who knows where it comes from. And who cares. Some things hail from heavenly places unseen. Some things are gifts from the heart of a child. There’s not much difference between the two.

She’s a cool kid. Ten years old. You should hear the way she talks. She sounds like she could be a quarterback.

She’s a firecracker. She likes knock-knock jokes, Disney princesses, and spontaneous high-fives.

She can slap your hand hard enough to make it sting.

“She’s a neat kid,” her mother says. “We always say she’ll probably end up being president one day.”

Maybe. But for now, her occupation is a different one.

“I like to give cool gifts,” the girl tells me.

The cool gifts started two years ago. A boy at school lost his mother to overdose. It was around that time the girl begged her parents for an Xbox.

Eventually, like most good parents, they gave in. They bought the video-game console and surprised her. It came wrapped in ribbons and paper. But the girl never opened it.

Instead, she took it to school. She handed it to the boy after class.

A teacher overheard the girl tell him, “Play with this whenever you get sad, it’ll take your mind off sad things.”

Then, there was the man in her neighborhood. He lived several houses down the street. He had a car accident—a bad one. Head injury, broken leg, he was confined to his bed for awhile.

One day, the girl and her mother arrived on his porch unannounced. The girl had crocheted a hat from bright green yarn.

“Green’s the color of healing,” the girl told the man. “When you wear this hat, I’m gonna be wearing one made with the same yarn. And it’ll be like having a friend with you.”

I told you she was a cool kid.

The girl’s mother helped her make the hats. It took a whole week. The gifts were well-received.

The man wore his hat to every physical therapy appointment. He relearned to walk in that hat.

There was also the woman, a custodian. She had to quit her job because her husband developed an autoimmune disease.

So the girl made cookies. Several dozen. Each cookie was iced and accompanied with a handwritten poem on a Post-It note. Simple, heartfelt poems.

The next morning, she and her mother left the cookies and poetry on the family’s porch.

She didn’t stop there. The girl called the man every afternoon just to talk.

Ten years old.

I asked her mother where the girl got such a personality.

“That’s the thing,” said her mother. “We don’t know. I mean, I’d like to take credit, but I can’t. This is all her.”

Who knows where it comes from. And who cares. Some things hail from heavenly places unseen. Some things are gifts from the heart of a child. There’s not much difference between the two.

Either way, this girl has something special inside her. She might appear small, but not if you look at her with your eyes closed.

Just a few weeks ago, the girl’s teacher was giving a lesson on 19th century inventors who changed the world.

She asked the class how someone would go about changing the world today.

One kid answered, “Recycling.”

Another kid said, “My dad says we should use less plastic.”

“Medicine that cures cancer!”

“Faster cars!”

“Computerized sunglasses!”

And other classroom answers of the imaginative variety.

The little girl’s answer: “If every kid did nice things for people, it might not change the world, but I think it would be cool.”

It certainly would.

May I never get so old that I can’t learn from a ten-year-old.

26 comments

  1. Calista B DuBose - February 11, 2018 7:28 am

    Cool kid indeed:)

    Reply
  2. Sandi in FL - February 11, 2018 8:31 am

    What a heartwarming post! Every community needs an angel-child like this young girl. To borrow a suggestion from the book and movie “Wonder”: Choose being kind over being right, and you’ll be right every time.” Amen to that.

    Reply
  3. CaroG87 - February 11, 2018 11:10 am

    Love this!!!

    Reply
  4. janiesjottings - February 11, 2018 11:55 am

    This post right here is the kind of news that our country needs on a regular basis. Imagine how healing it could be to our society. Love this story and the girl in it! We need to hear more stories about kids like her. Bravo Sean!

    Reply
  5. Connie - February 11, 2018 12:37 pm

    The wisdom of a child. May we all be more like them.

    Reply
  6. Perri Williamson - February 11, 2018 1:02 pm

    I find it sadly ironic that in a world that talks about kindness and acceptance we have all become less patient, less understanding and less kind than I’ve seen in all my 51 years. It should be a bit embarrassing for my generation that a 10 year old girl has to show us how.

    Kudos to you, sweetie. God always said that the greatest of these is ‘love.’ Thanks for reminding us of what we’re supposed to be doing.

    Reply
  7. Judith - February 11, 2018 1:35 pm

    Inspiring. Adults and kids alike need to read and put this sweet childs ways into practice.

    Reply
  8. Kathy - February 11, 2018 2:49 pm

    Thank you for helping to spread kindness by taking the time to listen to people and sharing their stories with all of us. You give me hope that the world is still a good place, when all we hear on the news is ugliness.?

    Reply
  9. muthahun - February 11, 2018 4:30 pm

    Here I am, reading about how humans learned to store fat in case of hard times, and how now, when we’re stressed, we produce cortisol and store more fat. Only problem is that in these times, there’s so much stress we’re storing so much fat it’s pressing on our kidneys, raising our blood pressure, giving us diabetes and heart issues and… well, you get the drift. And then here comes Sean with this 10 year old kid. What a ray of hope into my cold, damp, glowery day. Yeah, kid! What if we ALL did nice things for other people? You bet it would change the world.

    Reply
  10. Betsy Dozier - February 11, 2018 4:44 pm

    This is a beautiful story about one child but also gives one hope for the future of our country to be a better, more empathetic nation.

    Reply
  11. Jack Quanstrum - February 11, 2018 6:13 pm

    Great story, Great Advice!

    Reply
  12. Frieda Borntrager - February 11, 2018 6:51 pm

    Great story! This 10 year old is already going places, Lord only knows what she can accomplish in her lifetime! Bless her heart.

    Reply
  13. Pamela= McEachern - February 11, 2018 7:27 pm

    AMEN

    Peace and Love from Birmingham

    Reply
  14. Judy Clark - February 11, 2018 7:55 pm

    Dear Sean,
    Right below the “comment” button is the unsubscribe button….I sincerely doubt that any human would ever hit that button. Each and every post is a true joy to read and an even greater joy to ponder and think of until the next post. Thank you for enriching my life and my husband’s with your kindness, honesty and love of humanity.

    Reply
  15. Becca Burke Allison - February 11, 2018 10:24 pm

    Lovely child. May we all learn from her. My children have taught me so much, about good sense and kindness. I am so glad I didn’t insist on teaching them and not learning from them.
    I love your writing and your heart behind it.

    Reply
  16. Nancy Minshew - February 12, 2018 1:06 am

    The girl’s mother may not take credit for her child’s character, but she plays a huge role with her support and encouragement.

    Reply
  17. Dianne Correll - February 12, 2018 2:39 am

    and a child shall lead them…

    Reply
  18. Jack Darnell - February 12, 2018 3:24 am

    Good stuff! Glad she found you!….. great story!

    Reply
  19. Kathryn Lee - February 12, 2018 4:35 am

    I would like to say that you must have met my 10 year old Grandaughter , but I know you haven’t !
    She has a big heart of Love & doing good deeds for others… just like your sweet story of the Kid.
    Thanks for sharing such wonderful stories!

    Reply
  20. Susan Hammett Poole - February 12, 2018 4:58 am

    I’ve been reading your daily stories for several months and have yet to find one that doesn’t inspire me to be a better person, or encourage me, or cause me to love a lot deeper. Thank you for posting about this 10 year-old girl who is out to change the world one person at a time with her kindness and joy. GOD BLESS THIS CHILD ♥ ♥ ♥

    Reply
  21. Afi Scruggs - February 12, 2018 6:46 am

    “If every (kid) did nice things for people, it might not change the world, but I think it would be cool.”

    I think I just found my task for Lent. #KidAtHeart

    Reply
  22. Jody - February 12, 2018 5:34 pm

    Thanks Afi Scruggs. Dedicating 40 days of intentional kind acts I am motivated ?

    Reply
  23. Sue Cronkite - February 12, 2018 11:18 pm

    Thought you might be interested in this quote from an Alabama icon:
    “All the Lord asked of us is that we love God and love each other, and we’ve messed up those two simple commandments.”
    —Kathryn Tucker Windham, 1918-2011

    Reply
  24. ponder304 - February 14, 2018 1:30 pm

    And the world was changed!!!!

    Reply
  25. unkle - May 1, 2018 3:45 pm

    A good story is like s good joke , it demands to be retold so new people who missed it the first time are given a second chance . Uk

    Reply
  26. Becky S Word - May 1, 2018 4:17 pm

    And if everyone did nice things for others, and if everyone was kind, it would indeed change the world. Love this!

    Reply

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