When James Cates was a university student, he worked the night shift as a houseparent in a residential treatment center. One of his responsibilities was the sometimes overwhelming task of doing the laundry for 23 teenage boys.

The laundering process was hard on the clothes, so when a troubled young resident named Jake was given a new shirt from his mother, James offered to wash it separately. Soon other boys began asking him to include a favorite article of clothing in his “special” load. It was a small act of kindness, but it meant a lot to the boys.

Twenty years later, after establishing a successful practice as a therapist, teaching at a university, and being published in scholarly journals, Cates wrote: “With time to look back and reflect, no client I have ever known and no service I have ever performed means more to me than Jake and his shirt, and those special loads of clothes.”

A simple act of caring is a powerful expression of God’s compassion in our troubled world. The apostle John wrote, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Is there some “washing” you can do today?  — David C. McCasland