Kindness
Anonymous
Web Chapel Bulletin
Dallas TX
6/4/97
Kindness
Kindness is defined as the state, quality or habit of being kind. I have not been practicing kindness in my home enough for it to become a habit.
As a matter of fact, I have had a false understanding of the characteristics of this virtue. I thought I was being kind when I was compliant, when actually I was stuffing feelings and desires in a dark corner of my heart only to be manifested in angry tones of voice and sarcastic remarks. I thought I was being kind when I put everyone else’s needs before mine, when in reality I was building resentments revealed in household chores performed with military precision and laced with bitterness. I thought martyring myself for the sake of those I loved was a noble cause. Martyrdom is a noble cause if the martyr actually dies and has a funeral attended by sympathetic mourners. I found each time I was martyred, I had a pity-party resulting in presumed acts of cruelty inflicted upon me by the very ones to whom I proclaimed my undying love and dedication.
The expression of true kindness is motivated by our love for Jesus Christ and requires honesty, not by a need to be accepted and feel worthy. It is possible to express negative or painful feelings in a nonthreatening manner by using a gentle tone of voice, choosing words carefully and, if you are a people pleasing, non-boat-rocking, fearful individual, with a deliberate trust in God for the outcome.
Friendliness, tenderheartedness, understanding, politeness and unselfishness are attributes of kindness that can become a part of our lifestyles by willing and conscious efforts to do so. Second Peter 1.5-8 tells us to
increase in measure kindness, along with other virtues, or we will become
ineffective and unproductive and forget we have been cleansed from our sins.
We are told in Colossians 3.12 to
clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Kindness, put on daily, can have a profound influence on the quality of love demonstrated in our homes and community.
Kindness is hard work in the physical realm. It does not come naturally for most of us and must be developed and used abundantly for optimum benefit. In the spiritual realm, it is a powerful weapon brandished to our advantage in spiritual warfare.
—Anonymous
Webb Chapel Bulletin – Dallas, TX
