Kindness
Few of us have ever felt a tinge of regret for being too kind but we have all felt conscience stricken because of a curt word said in haste. It isn’t always what we say either that hurts but often the way it is said that shows our love or our lack of it.
Kind words are the sweet tones of the heart and it is needless to talk about love for God and love for our fellow man if we are unkind in our dealings with one another.
All too often, we show the least kindness to those we should love the most. Do we greet one another in the morning with a kind word or do we bark a gruff ”where’s the paper?” or ”why isn’t breakfast ready?”
Kindness, like the measles, is highly contagious and if we will only cast kind words upon the waters of life we shall find that they return. Kindness isn’t something just to talk about, it is a way to act and is a direct command from God. Paul tells us to ”be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
We are creatures of habit and it is possible to become so absorbed in our own petty problems and grievances that we forget to be kind. We may tell ourselves that we are kind and good but no one else would know it by the way we act. If this shoe fits us, let us recognize it in ourselves and begin again to be kind, to be tender hearted, to forgive and show love everywhere we go. Much to our surprise and pleasure we will discover that others are kinder and more considerate too when we show kindness.
We all have problems, sorrow, and heartaches and we never know how much good a kind word does. It may encourage one who is on the verge of despair. We know that it will soften and mellow our lives and we shall more nearly reflect the personality of our Lord Jesus. Christ told us that we must be kind to the children of the Highest, for God is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.
Let us also be kind to the unthankful. We must put our Christianity to work in our everyday lives or we are hypocrites.
”Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put or. love, which is the bond of perfectness.”
When we stand before the judge of all the earth we shall not feel a tinge of regret for having been too kind.
