The other day I saw a cute woman with a t-shirt that said, "Nice-a-holic." I loved that! I'm amazed at the vile seething anger that comes out of people sometimes...in the form of a cutting word, an ugly insinuation, a put down either behind their back or to their face.
How much does it cost to just be kind? Nada, nothin', zilch! Yet, sometimes, especially when people respond to us in a less than kind way, we want to retaliate. Why is that? Their response to us isn't about us!? It's about them.
I've seen Christians - - brothers and sisters in Christ - - respond to other Christians in horrible manner. This should simply not be!!
A friend told me she had seen a young man the other day and he was still as surly and rude as he had been when she had worked with him a year ago. Not surprising. Wherever we go, there we are. I think Kermit the Frog (and Abraham Lincoln) are attributed to that great saying.
People are hurting. People are lonely. People are frightened. Sometimes I'm "people." I don't want others to respond to me in a mean spirited way. That is my prayer. I want to be gentle. I want to be kind. 1st Corinthians 13 certainly shares a lot about that. Let's join hearts and be a part of the Kindness Revolution! Check out this website and this one.
Loving you,
Lila
3 comments:
Great post! What a shame that kindness does not just come naturally. I know I sure need it.
Thanks for stopping by and helping me raise money. I am hoping to start answering questions tomorrow. I don't know what I was thinking - ha!!
Kindly,
Sadie
I appreciate this post. Thank you. One of my classes this semester is on the Sermon on the Mount. It started tonight and the main theme that ran through it was that Jesus blessed OTHERS that they might be a blessing to even more OTHERS.
Then, the whole, "salt and light" thing comes into play, where we realize we don't need a lot of salt to get the job done, and one candle does a nice job of illuminating.
Interesting concepts to think about in reference to your post on kindness.
You are a kind-o-holic.
I don't know about you, but it's most difficult to not respond to a mean-o-holic when they were mean to my sweetie. Those who have kids, know it's even harder having meanness directed at them. But it's also difficult to not respond when it's thrown my way, as well.
At a local restaurant the other day, a friend came in, a tremendously kind woman, and I know she has to make a real effort to be at times, because of her very public job. Even though she was wearing a smile, I could see such deep hurt, such discouragement in her eyes, in her soul, and I wanted to pull her close and tell her it will be okay. Perhaps next time I will make more of an effort.
You're so right; it really doesn't take much effort to give a kind word here and there. Perhaps we forget that we reap what we sow. We sow meanness; we reap it. We sow kindness; we reap it. Same goes for mercy, for judgmentalness, for giving gossip and for stopping it. The list goes on forever. How can we forget? So often we are the object of such goodness and such awfulness ourselves.
Mean words are bad; actions are sometimes worse, so maybe instead of leaving messes in public places, like restrooms, if we clean up our own mess, and using a paper shield, even picking up one or two litterings of someone else, it might give us a better feeling about ourseleves, and it's a way of doing something kind for someone, something no one else knows about, except God.
Thank you for a reminder to be kind. We all know we want to sow it!
Post a Comment