-Post by Doris Staggs-
My day had started out as what seemed to be the usual for a beautiful spring day in June – more things to do in a day than I had time or energy for. After doing the outside chores of feeding and watering the chickens, I came in had my breakfast with a round of devotions, heavy on the prayer – God help me. I knew I had to put up some fences for our chickens and turkeys so that they would have greater access to grass, but I also knew it would take a day or two to accomplish. A short time later, a friend came over to figure out how to do some things, and as she was on her way out when she asked if there was anything that she could help me with. I took her up on her offer and about an hour later, we had put up a permanent enclosure for our layers and moved and set up a portable fence for our meat birds. I told her she was an answer to prayer. In return her enthusiasm for seeing that all the birds were comfortable, had green grass to eat, cool grass to lay on and more space to run around was inspiring to me.
Later that day, I was listening to my favorite radio station, when a speaker came on, who was talking about being kind – adults need to be kind. It got me to thinking about how often as a child I heard the reminder of ‘be kind’. And then of course, how often I used it on my own kids as they were growing up. But “be kind”, as an adult, what does that look like? First I had to look up the meaning in the dictionary (of course not literally anymore – I did it online).
Here are some meanings:
1. having, showing, or proceeding from benevolence
2. indulgent, considerate or helpful
3. mild, gentle, loving affectionate.
My friend had been the perfect example to me of being kind. Not only is she kind to animals, her kindness extends to all those she encounters; whether it is a neighbor who seldom talks to her, a young pregnant teen or difficult to love family members. It is an inspiration to watch her love and generosity to all, and it encourages me to do the same.
My favorite “Be Kind” verse, memorized years ago in good old King James English, is found in Ephesians 4 verse 32, “And be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
A few more well known quotes on kindness:
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible”
~ Dalai Lama
“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.”
~ Henry James“It’s not our job to play judge and jury, to determine who is worthy of our kindness and who is not. We just need to be kind, unconditionally and without ulterior motive, even – or rather, especially – when we’d prefer not to be” ~Josh Radnor
Let’s be kind to one another, for then we will be acting as children of the most high, for he is kind… -Matthew 6:34