Kindness Matters!

I've had a jumble of thoughts whirling around in my head for the past few weeks, and recently I realized  they all had one thing in common. My heart hurts from the lack of kindness I see in the world, but mostly within the Christian community. Those of us who are to be "like Jesus" seem to be less and less like Him.

My Christian faith requires me to be kind to "the least of these", "my neighbor", and "my enemies." So really, basically, anyone. As I've matured in my faith, this is what I think that looks like:

I am kind and welcoming to the homeless, the immigrant, the disenfranchised.

I work to help the poor in whatever way I can; yes, with my taxes, my time, my money.

I support equal, basic human rights to those who don't have them: women, the gay community, other races, the unborn.

I raise my voice against injustice and abuse; wherever it shows up. In the home. In the city. In my state. In the US. In the world.

When my enemy is rude and arrogant and downright mean, I respond with kindness.

If someone has a different point of view, belief, ideology, political view, I listen, I may disagree, but I do so with kindness.

I feel like so much of what is coming out of the mouths of church leaders and Christians is anything BUT kind.

Kindness means I serve the needs of others. I look out for others.

I DON'T:

Judge the welfare mom

Condemn and rail against the LGBT community.

Assert my white privilege when I am certainly not part of a minority and have NO clue what they are going through.

Shun those who don't agree with me.

Even if someone is wrong, EVEN IF, as my dad said, "There is never a reason to not be kind."

Kindness wins over the hardest hearts.

Kindness builds bridges.

When I was going through my divorce my dad boiled it down to kindness. He asked my ex-husband, "Can you just go home and be kind to her?"
"No," he replied. "I don't know how to do that."

Kindness would have swayed me. Kindness would have made a difference. Kindness DOES make a difference.

I'm blessed to be married to a kind man. I remember when we were dating, people who had known him way longer than I had, kept saying, "He's the kindest man I know." My heart melted under his kindness and I continue to be blessed by it.

I have friends who are beyond kind. They know my story. My best. My worst. And they were kind. They loved me in my mess and continue to love me. They don't force their agenda on me, but support me where I am.

Kindness starts at home. When my kids are grouchy. When my husband is grouchy. When I am grouchy! I need to respond kindly.

When a client is rude, I respond in kindness.

When a car cuts me off, I am kind (well, I'm working on that one)

When a discussion gets volatile, I diffuse the bomb with kindness.

And when people are unkind, I stand up for those who can't.

We hear it often: Be kind, you never know what battle someone is fighting.