“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” “Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Last week she baked a bunch of cakes and delivered them to people in her neighborhood. “The world felt so dark that I decided to make some happy tummies,” she said. “Braxton (her husband) and I delivered cakes, leaving some on doorsteps. We knocked on doors and said, ‘Have a good day.’ It’s a ministry to make people happy. It’s not about the food, it’s about sharing a little sweetness.” After sharing kindness cakes with over 100 police and fire personnel, Martha decided to deliver even more cakes to her friends at the Post Office. Why? “Well,” Martha replied, “during the lonely winter days I would sometimes go to the Post Office just to be around my friends there and have them lift my spirit.” Martha is only 84. She copes with the sorrow of losing her husband Hoyt four years ago by offering kindness to the men and women who put their lives on the line every day for the people of her community. James would say, “Way to go, Martha; you show me your faith by what you do!” Martha tells me there are many others in her church offering kindness to others in a ministry called “Feeding God’s Children.” Hundreds of meals are being provided to children and others in the community who need food. Martha also shares in a project in her neighborhood to show appreciation to the Sanitation Department workers. “We found out that the same four men regularly serve us by picking up garbage, trash and recycle items. So we collected homemade and store-bought goodies which we shared to show our appreciation for them,” Martha said. “We even gave a gift card and some gifts to our mail carrier!” So In Montgomery, Mercy House is showing mercy to hundreds of people in an impoverished neighborhood of west Montgomery. A ministry of New Walk of Life Church on Council Street, Mercy House serves 100 hot meals a day to hungry people; in addition, 200 snack bags given out every day. Every week 70 families are given enough food to feed a family of five for a week. Pastor Ken Austin says, “We can do this only because of the generous support of caring people in the River Region.” Youth of the church are awarded money for A’s and B’s on their report cards. Pastor Austin tells me that during the night following busy fourth of July activities, he had the “honor” of getting out of bed and delivering food to a family that called and said, “Pastor, we don’t have anything to eat.” The deeds described above are only a few of the many expressions of love which are going on all around us, for there are many good Americans whose faith is not dead and useless. We dare not focus so much on the “bad news” that we miss seeing the good deeds of our fellow Americans, deeds that can inspire us to practice good deeds ourselves. Opinions matter. Words are important. But James would remind us, in the heat of the ugly debate going on in our nation, words without action, without deeds, are useless. Words will not warm a man who needs a coat. Words will not quiet the growling of a hungry man’s stomach.