Spiritual Sundays - Kindness For A New Year

At the beginning of each year, I ponder on a trait I would like to see developed more in my life. This year the thought has been 'kindness". If you have a pleasant personality, it is easy to be kind. But the type of kindness I am looking for is one that is deeply rooted in the heart and reflects outward in actions to others.

Recently a devotion came through my email and it was based on an excerpt from "The Love Dare" by Stephen & Alex Kendrick.

Kindness can be defined as "love in action." Love makes you kind. And kindness makes you likeable. When youʼre kind, people want to be around you. They see you as being good to them and good for them.

There are four basic core ingredients to kindness:

1. Gentleness: When kindness is ruling your heart, youʼre careful how you treat your spouse, never being unnecessarily harsh. Youʼre sensitive. Tender. Even if you need to say harsh things, youʼll bend over backwards to make your rebuke or challenge as easy to hear as possible. You speak the truth in love.

2. Helpfulness: Being kind means you meet the needs of the moment. If itʼs housework, you get busy. A listening ear? You give it. Kindness graces a wife with the ability to serve her husband without worrying about her rights.

3. Willingness: Kindness inspires you to be agreeable. Instead of being obstinate, reluctant, or stubborn, you cooperate, you stay flexible. Rather than complaining and making excuses, you look for reasons to compromise and accommodate.

4. Initiative: Kindness thinks ahead, then takes the first step. It doesnʼt sit around waiting to be prompted or coerced before getting off the couch. The kind husband or wife will be the one who greets first, smiles first, and forgives first. They donʼt require the other to get his or her act together before showing love. When acting from kindness, you see the need, then make your move. First.

It is difficult to demonstrate love when you feel little to no motivation. But love in its truest sense is not based on feelings. Rather, love determines to show thoughtful actions even when theyʼre seems to be no reward. You will never learn love until you learn to demonstrate kindness.

May the new year find us seeking ways to love and to be kind to one another!

Sometimes We Score, Sometimes We Block

Our family is in the midst of little league soccer season. My youngest son is playing and his enthusiasm is contagious. He is pretty good at the sport, but what makes it so great is that he loves it! He counts the days until the next game or practice. He loves his coach and teammates. He has moved up an age level this year and the players are working more like team, passing to each other and watching out for each other during play. During the last game, my son scored two goals, they were the only goals of the game. In today's game the team scored eight goals. My son came up afterwards to me and said, "I didn't score today, but I blocked". What a powerful truth those words can hold. In life, sometimes we score, sometimes we block. Sometimes we do great things, we excel, we achieve, we meet our goal - we score! There are also times we see the needs of others, sometimes they are sad or hurting, we block their hits. We look out for them so they can score. We

Relationships and Redemption

In every friendship or relationship, there is a common hope that they will grow and flourish. There is something inside of us that longs for a 'happy every after' story. We dream about it and work to make that happen. But in reality, relationships are a challenge. The bridging of values, lifestyles, interests and sacrificing for another are simply hard things to do! No matter how much we dream of the perfect fit, some relationships will not endure the stress. When differences appear and tensions arise, prayer can change situations, attitudes and ourselves. For the Christian, we know God can transform, change, heal. We cannot change others, but prayer opens us the door for God to step in and answer. God desires transformation, but does not demand it. The gift of free will allows us to choose to say Yes or No to Him. Romans 12:18 says, “If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Take notice of the first two words: “If possible …” This implies that some

A Blank Page - A Great Way to Fill It

A blank page - that is the first view of a new blog post. It has been a while since I have faced the blank page of my little blog! A blank page can bring a variety of emotions - emptiness, anxiety, pressure to perform or emotions such as inspiration, encouragement or simply bursting to share something. But there is always something fresh and exciting about the blank page of a New Year. Happy 2023! This is always a time in my life where inspiration and plans are formed and ready to be implemented for greater change. Aspirations may start strong, but alone do not make a difference. It takes consistency to create change. The changing or adding small habits is a key to great changes. A habit that has been beneficial in my life for many years is rising early. It began when the children were small and was the only pocket of time I had to myself. Through the years, mornings have become my favorite time of the day. Now that my husband and I are empty nesters, we go to bed early and rise early.

Musings of A MinisterJanuary 3, 2009 at 3:36 PM
Fantastic food for thought. My how we need more kindness in this old world. After reading your words I decided I must let it begin with me.
CharlotteJanuary 3, 2009 at 4:28 PM
How important this subject is. I cannot imagine Jesus being unkind to anyone. We need to follow his example more. Thank you for this reminder.
Happy 2009
Charlotte
Ginger~~Enchanting CottageJanuary 3, 2009 at 4:37 PM
I have to agree with Cliff, this world needs more kindness! Thank-you for such great post and that we can all try to be a little more kind.
God Bless,
Ginger
AnonymousJanuary 3, 2009 at 8:24 PM
Lord God, may all your children walk in the fruit of the spirit of kindness more and more everyday. Show us ways to be more kind. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Blessings
RuthieJanuary 4, 2009 at 1:53 AM
A great message for the new year.
Blessings.
Ruthie
SmilingSallyJanuary 4, 2009 at 7:07 AM
I enjoyed reading this post. Thank you.
DebbieJanuary 10, 2009 at 10:04 PM
Makes me think of that sunday school song "Be ye kind one to another tenderhearted forgiving one another... " Loved visiting your blog and hope to come back

God bless,
deb

Joyfull Living

Search This Blog