When I think back on my childhood, one of my favorite memories was attending vacation Bible school.
I loved hearing the stories of the Bible,
playing games, making crafts and singing. There is one song in particular that I remember based on Ephesian 4:32. Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as Christ has forgiven you. Kindness is an important thing to teach children but as I witness adult interactions today, it might be a good thing to teach or reteach to everyone.
Kindness comes from the Middle English word, kindenes, which means “courtesy.” We all want others to treat us with kindness and what we term “common curtesy”, and for some of us fortunate enough to have parents who raised us by modeling this behavior and requiring it of us, acts of kindness becomes reflexive. But as the family structure changes along with society, kindness is a virtue that is often overlooked.
It has been my experience that many are shocked by or don’t know how to respond to a kind act. This causes me to conclude that kindness is not as “common” as it once was.
For example, I was walking out of a store at the same time as a man in his late 20s. He held the door for me, and I smiled at him and said, “Thank you.”
The man seemed agitated and as I made eye contact with him, he said, “On the way into this store, I held the door for a woman and she snapped at me and told me she didn’t need my help to get in and out of a store.” I nodded and said quietly, “I’m sorry she said that. Your kindness and common courtesy are very much appreciated by me.” He smiled for the first time and said, “Thank you for saying that.” We went our separate ways, both smiling.
First, the Bible teaches that we should be kind to others (Ephesians 4:32).
Growing up in the church, I had the opportunity to hear a pastor once say: “If you are concerned that the word of God is authentic, try living by the principles outlined in it and see if it improves your life.” I took this advice to heart and began with being kind to others. It amazed me at how much brighter my life became just from being kind.
Luke 6:27-31 lays out the Golden Rule. “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” When you are kind to others and it opens the door for them to return it to you. What you give out is often what you receive back.
The random acts of kindness movement is fabulous but I think they should eliminate the word, random. Kindness is always a great option.
The second reason we should be kind to others is because we do not know what the circumstances of their lives are.
I remember a story I read years ago about a village whose people were tired of dealing with their own difficult problems.
They decided as a group to write their burdens on paper and hang them on lines that village leaders strung across the square.
The leaders of the village instructed everyone to stand back and upon the signal, they could rush out to the papers and grab anyone else’s problems in exchange for their own. When the leaders gave the signal, all the villagers rushed in and read over the problems listed on each paper. A funny thing happened in the village that day, after careful consideration of all the villagers’ problems, each person grabbed their own problems back.
We rarely know what burdens people around us carry. Being kind can help ease these burdens instead of adding to them by being rude or indifferent.
Third, kindness is a gift.
Sometimes this gift costs us only a little; we pick up something someone else dropped. Sometimes this gift is costly; we return rudeness with a smile and treat the other person with dignity and respect when we would rather slap them. We keep our self-respect when we do not react negatively. Giving the gift of kindness always brings us a blessing even if it’s only knowing that we acted with dignity. Acts 20:35 says, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.” and kindness beautifully illustrates this.
Finally, being kind can give you a better life.
Kindness has the power to ease conflict and helps ensure that disagreements do not escalate into problems.
You can learn to set boundaries and disagree in a kindly manner. It may be necessary to take a
step back from the situation first, but kindness is a choice in difficult situations and not a reaction. Again, the attitudes we project to other people are often those we receive.
Being kind is powerful. Any time that we can be kind to others, we are making our lives and those around us a little better. Kindness is a dignified and potent choice when interacting day by day with others.
