Kindness Matters

This seems like a no-brainer, right??? However, in a world where tempers flares, meanness is vital, and people speak before thinking it seems kindness has taken a back seat. 

However, recently, I have been the recipient of kindness that I was grateful for and in a way that I didn’t realize I needed.

We have some friends who have a beautiful little girl who will be turning 3 this fall. We try to be involved with this little girl’s life as much as possible, and we were invited to her birthday party. Before I could accept, this little girl’s mom gave me an out. She told there would be a lot of little kids there and that it might be hard for myself and Jman to be there because we are in a different season with trying to start a family and waiting for God to say yes. Little did I know I needed this out. But after making alternate plans to celebrate this little girl in a much less stressful way. I was blessed by my friend’s kindness and flexibility. 

In another situation recently, I had two different friends, both announce that they were expecting. However, they kindly told me before they announced it to others. Now, this kindness was unnecessary, but I was blessed by it. The fact they were considering my feelings before anyone else allowed me to have time and process their announcements and be able to then when they did announce these blessings, I had moved past anger at my situation into rejoicing with these families. 

Kindness matters. The smallest thing if it is done in kindness, it matters. God commanded this in the repeated verses about kindness. It makes me believe that in biblical times, unkindness was the norm. Today it has morphed into mean comments on the internet or being unkind as a habit.

Hey, I get it because there are often times when I wish I could be unkind. To fight hurt by hurting others. However, meanness just creates more meanness. Much like people work out and practice healthy habits, being kind is something I practice every day.