We’ve been considering the role of kindness in our lives. Our Care and Kindness Campaign seeks to raise people’s awareness of how important kindness is. We have discussed kindness that we show at home.
We urge that you show kindness in public. Then there’s kindness at church and kindness with your enemies.
That pretty well covers the gamut, don’t you think?
Almost! . . . Someone else needs your kindness. Who could that be?
You.
Don’t we tend to be tough on ourselves? And rightly so. Like the young couple at the wedding in Cana, we don’t always adequately plan ahead. We’ve been self-serving. And like the woman with the illness (see the earlier blogabout that), our world sometimes seems out of control. But did Jesus chide the wedding couple? No. Was he hard on the woman who touched his hem? No. He is kind to the forgetful. He is kind to the greedy. He is kind to the sick.
And he is kind to us. And since he is so kind to us, can’t we be a little kinder to ourselves?
Oh, but you don’t know me! You don’t know my faults and my thoughts. You don’t know the gripes that come so easily into my mind. You don’t know the complaints I so frequently mutter.
No, I don’t, but Jesus does. He made you. He knows everything about you, yet he doesn’t hold back his kindness toward you.
Has he, knowing all your secrets, retracted one promise or reclaimed one gift? No, he is kind to you.
Why don’t you be kind to yourself? He forgives your faults. Why don’t you do the same? He thinks tomorrow is worth living. Why don’t you agree? He believes in you enough to call you his ambassador, his follower, even his child.
Why not take his cue and believe in yourself?
In other words, with all of our focus on kindness, be sure to include yourself. Say some good, encouraging words to YOU. Let your mind enjoy some thoughts about the good things that make you to be YOU.