I enjoyed a random occurrence the other day. I was walking in town. Taking care of some business. Returning to my office. A person coming toward me looked right at me and said some really nice words to me. I didn’t know this person. I don’t know if this person has made it a mission in life to go about randomly tossing positive words at people or if this person offered the words as one of those in-the-moment kind of genuine responses.

What I do know is that the experience lifted my spirits. Brightened my day. Felt like an unexpected gift. Because it was.

It made me think about the “movement” of sorts that was popular some time ago. You may remember it too. The “Random Acts of Kindness” wave that rippled through the culture. Promoting the notion that everyone has the power to make a positive impact on the world through deeds done for others. Especially potentially unnoticed deeds. Certainly unrewarded deeds. Those that are not prompted by a date on the calendar or an assigned checklist.

I bit. I found a little guide at a used bookstore. It is from the very same editors of Random Acts of Kindness. It’s called The Community of Kindness. I read it. Randomly rather than cover to cover. It was encouraging. I even dog-eared a page I must have really liked because that’s what I do. I did it to one of the pages serving as the introduction to Chapter 7 titled “Only Kindness Allows for Community.” On that page is a great truth simply stated: “Nothing tests us quite so completely as another human being.”

The page contained some other really good stuff but that was the phrase that caught my attention just now when I turned to it. Yup. Human beings challenge us. Being a human being is challenging. And certainly being with other human beings can stretch and test us mightily. So after my delightful experience this week the question that has pinged around in my head and heart is this: why should we do acts of kindness randomly? Why not intentionally?

I recently traveled to Chiapas, Mexico, to spend my vacation doing construction work for a total stranger. Part of my experience there involved being drawn off the jobsite on Friday afternoon to engage in acts of intentional kindness. Buying clothes and shoes for a six-year-old orphan. Except that she wasn’t so much of an orphan any more. She had been deposited on the doorstep of a couple who didn’t have children of their own. Not a young couple mind you. A couple who have known the challenges of being human beings. And a couple who took the child in believing she is a gift from God. Because she is.

As I walked the streets of Tenejapa with them I quickly realized that both kindness and cruelty are to be found in every culture. Must be a human being thing. This woman who suddenly became the mother of a little girl is physically deformed. The stubs of her feet turn sideways. She is hunched. It is an effort to walk. The looks we received conveyed more than words. I sought to shield her as best I could. Me with my highly functional white body. But excuse me, the cruelty is simply not necessary. It serves no good purpose. Why not intentionally choose kindness?

I say, enough of the randomness! Be intentional. Choose kindness. As that dog-eared page would remind us all, “An essential ingredient, if we’re going to make it through, is compassion for our own flawed stumbling.”

Rebecca Taylor is pastor at the First Presbyterian Church. She can be reached at rebecca@warrenfpc.org