Love is kind.
1 Corinthians 13:4 NIV
Throughout the past year, I have been focusing my attention on one special aspect of God’s love: His kindness. This has grown my awareness of His practical care for me, and my practical care for others, to a new and richer level. Love is a feeling that can be tucked away in our hearts, hidden like a pearl in an oyster. But kindness puts flesh on the love and brings it to life in the space between people.
Earlier this year I joined an online Christian initiative called “40 acts,” which encourages people to do at least one act of kindness a day for forty days. Every day I received some thoughtful inspiration and a kindness challenge: kindness in my home, on my journey to work, around my town, in my office, down my street, and across my world. Being part of this initiative opened my eyes even wider to the great need for kindness every day in every possible and simple way. Finding ways to be kind to others has brightened my own life too. One day I saw a young mother at the top of a long flight of stairs in a department store. She was maneuvering a loaded buggy with one hand and a distressed toddler with the other. I touched her arm gently. “Let me carry the buggy down the steps for you. Then you will have both hands for your little girl.”
She sighed, and her whole body relaxed. “Thank you so much! That’s so kind of you!”
I waited at the bottom of the stairs. As she settled the toddler back into her buggy, I told her, “You are so patient with her. You are doing a great job as a mom. I hope that you have a lovely day together.”
She turned to me with tears in her eyes. “I needed that. It is a lovely day. Now I can see how blue the sky is. It’s amazing.” It only took a few moments, it cost me nothing. But it gave her hope and comfort and helped her to see the world in a bright new way.
Kindness is a powerful way to change our communities. It is something we can all do every day to make God’s love real in this broken and lonely world. It is also one of the best ways to nurture your own happiness and to counteract loneliness and sadness. Why not try doing something kind every day for forty days and see what happens? Ask God to show you how you can share His kindness today.
Karen Holford, Trans-European Division Women’s Ministries Director
In His Presence Copyright ©2018 General Conference Women’s Ministries Department