Going Deeper: Kindness
The bible repeatedly emphasises kindness:
- Love is kind (1 Cor 13: 4)
- Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (Eph 4:32)
- Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience Col 3;12)
God is kind - one of the most beautiful words in the Old Testament is hesed - which is translated ‘loving kindness ‘in English.
Walt Disney, famous for that mouse and those magic kingdoms, said that there are just three types of people in the world. According to Walt, there are the well-poisoners. Gifted in draping others with wet blankets of discouragement, and obscenely eager to tell others what they can’t do, (even if they can) these vandals love to trample dreams and snuff out sparks of creativity.
Avoid the well-poisoners if you can, especially if you own a well….
Then there are the lawn-mowers. These are nice people, highly moral and meticulous, but they are exclusively concerned with their own lives, which includes, presumably, manicuring their lawns. They love their pristine gardens, fuss endlessly over them, but never move a muscle or lend a scythe to the guy next door so that he can chop his way through those chin-high weeds. If you’re going to have an emergency, pray it doesn’t happen on their doorstep. They won’t be in.
Finally, in Disney’s experience, there are the life-enhancers. These beautiful souls are quick to reach out, and live with their eyes and hearts open. Fuelled by a passion to strengthen and enrich others, the life enhancers encourage, lift up, and inspire. And one of their primary characteristics is kindness.
Kindness is intentional. ‘Adding value to others requires a person to give of themselves, and it rarely occurs by accident‘ writes John Maxwell.
And kindness is not just about action - it also involves caring by listening: ‘Listening is the silent shape of caring’ - Lewis Smedes
Is there a situation in our lives where kindness has become a casualty?
A final word from J.R. Miller:
‘There have been meetings of only a moment which have left impressions for life, for eternity. No one can understand that mysterious thing we call influence . . . yet . . . every one of us continually exerts influence, either to heal, to bless, to leave marks of beauty; or to wound, to hurt, to poison, to stain other lives’.