While dining out one evening at a restaurant in a small town, my mother noticed that the service was quite slow. A server then confided to her that they were short staffed that night. Soon after, my mom hopped out of her seat and began voluntarily aiding the restaurant staff by greeting incoming guests as a self-appointed host, carrying out beverages from the kitchen to tables, and striking up conversations with different parties in the restaurant—much to the apparent delight of the owners and remaining staff.
My mother’s graciousness was an example to me of the kind of good deeds that Mary Baker Eddy refers to in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. She says, “What we most need is the prayer of fervent desire for growth in grace, expressed in patience, meekness, love, and good deeds” (p. 4).
Good deeds are the natural outcome of the understanding that God is Love. When people come to others’ aid, without thought of receiving anything in return, they are expressing the attributes of divine Love, God, which include qualities such as compassion, selflessness, and kindness. Yet, what is it that separates random acts of kindness from the good deeds that are far from random, but rather, impelled by divine Love itself?
