March 25, 2020 –
People expect kindness from their families and friends. We also express kindness toward others, we know.
But what happens when we are kind to people we don’t know? And what are the results, when people we don’t know, show kindness toward us?
I think many people are guilty of not showing compassion for strangers. To show kindness for people, we don’t know, requires us to step outside-the-box, and engage in the unfamiliar: people, needs, circumstances, language, skin color, and new ideas.
In Ephesians 4:32, Paul instructs Christians to “be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
Often, when a stranger shows kindness toward us, our initial reaction is shock, embarrassment, and bewilderment. Our first question is, “Why is the individual doing this for me?” Don’t be ungrateful or unappreciative. Being a cheerful and thankful receiver is essential. Allow the other the pleasure of giving you something, even if it is a kind word.
What if we could understand the roots of kindness — and accept a fundamental principle of life that, by being thankful for a deed of kindness, we have just received a gift from God? In being grateful, we show appreciation for God’s gift.
Never underestimate the power of kindness.