There is no substitute for kindness. The fact is, given any situation, the ball is in your court and you can be kind or you can be nasty.
The Bible says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted forgiving one another.” It also says that “Love is patient and kind.” We will be talking about the Power Steps of love and patience in later blogs, but for now let’s stick with kindness.
Kindness is the tendency to be sympathetic or compassionate. It shows consideration and caring. It cares when people hurt or get things wrong. Kindness runs the gamut of circumstances, meaning that circumstances can be dire or minimal and you can still be kind.
I’m a firm believer in the law of seed time and harvest. We say it like this, “You reap what you sow.” If you sow corn, you get corn. If you sow watermelon, you get watermelon. If you sow kindness, you reap kindness. Of course there are going to be some weeds that come up in your crop. We live in an imperfect world and you won’t reap a harvest without a few weeds getting in. But you will for the most part receive back what you put in.
Some time ago, It was winter and I was driving down a city street in a small town in Kansas. We had just gotten an ice storm and there was still a considerable amount of snow and ice on the sidewalks. I looked to my left and in one of the front yards there looked like a person lying there. She had on a black coat and hat lying pretty still. At first I thought it was a mannequin, then I realized it was a woman.
I noticed that several cars just drove past not even attempting to stop and help her. Maybe they didn’t see her, but her black coat was very visible on the white snow. It was slippery and maybe the passers by simply didn’t want to bother with her.
I stopped my car and walked over to her. She was awake and seemed to be coherent so I struck up a conversation with her, not knowing if she was hurt. She seemed to be in her late seventies or early eighties. She said, “I fell coming out to get my paper and couldn’t get back up. I’ve been lying here for the past hour.”
It was a fairly busy street with cars going by constantly. I couldn’t believe that no one had seen her. I thought, “Is this what our culture has reduced itself to?” I couldn’t believe that there wasn’t anyone who cared enough, even in the freezing cold and ice to stop and help an older lady.
Everyone has a story of struggle in their life. If they don’t have a story at present, they will certainly have one in the near future. Kindness picks people up and helps them on there way. It empowers others to continue on. I gets them up off the ground and to a warm place where they can function again. Being kind doesn’t just stand over someone, it helps them to their feet. It’s powerful.
