For the last few months in church we have been covering Romans 12. In this chapter, there is a lot of description about the different jobs and gifts that the Lord, through his grace and mercy, have given us. These verses say, “So in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith.” The Lord has given each of us a role and items that come easier to us and ones that he really wants us to capitalize on.
Even though the Lord has given each of us our certain roles and our certain positions in life, the Lord also does expect us to slowly but surely work on the items that we are not as good at. That is why we are supposed to grow in all the fruits of the spirit. One of those gifts that the Lord has given out but also has an expectation that we all grow in is kindness or mercy. I enjoyed that my pastor spent time highlighting this particular gift. It can be very easy to believe that kindness is not a gift, but rather a weakness. However, it is definitely a gift to be able to give kindness and love to the people who are in this world that then make the world a better place.
I am not always the person to believe that all you have to do is be kind. We can look at kindness as sometimes good enough. As long as a person is kind, they don’t have to worry about fighting for justice, or they don’t have to be a witness for the Lord. A person can be a quote on quote “good person” by just being kind. Being kind is important, but it can often be looked at as a word that is shallow. However, when I think of kindness, I think of a person who deeply cares about the other. This means that kindness goes deeper when a person cares about the person’s physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being. This is caring about justice, their peace, and that they feel cared for and have been taken care of with hospitality.
I believe that everyone, especially right now needs a little bit more of kindess. A Proverbs that I really enjoy is Proverbs 16:24 that says, “Pleasant words are like a honeycomb, Sweet and delightful to the soul and healing to the body.” Kind words are refreshing to the body and to the soul. It seems as though everyone is at odds with every issue and argue about everything that pops up. Because of this, there is a lot more hostility in the world. However, when we take the moment to really be kind, the deep kind of kind, when we care about our neighbor’s social, emotional, and physical well-being, we are able to provide real healing.
I know that as a teacher, I have felt a little more discouraged by the way I see students and parents acting and the way they talk to both me and the other teachers in the area. I even sometimes get very exhausted from the way I see some students talk to their peers. It seems as though I only see items being said with sarcasm and a mean heart and not with a kind, compassionate, and encouraging heart. At the end of the long days, and at the end of all of the stress we deal with on a regular basis, it is so much easier to hear kind words that are sweet to our souls.
My challenge for everyone is to pick one person that is in your life that you can write a letter to, and that letter should be filled with a whole bunch of kind words and encouragement. I know words aren’t for everyone. I know that I love words because that is why I have a blog, so maybe the idea of writing a letter or a card to someone isn’t a hard concept for myself and other word-lovers, but I believe that putting into words how you appreciate someone is a great beginning to honor them.
This blog post is coming out the weekend after Thanksgiving. This is the season when it is easy to appreciate and love others. The holiday of Thanksgiving is set aside specifically, so we can say what we are thankful for. However, it is very important that we don’t just take this time to really talk about what we are thankful for, but rather that we spend every part of the year discussing what we are thankful for. It is a good reminder that we need to continue this feeling of gratitude and this feeling of kindness throughout the rest of the year.
Colossians 3:23 Blog 