If I'm going to consider myself to be a kind person, I have to be kind to everyone. All the time.
My sister recently shared this thought and I asked her permission to share it here:
"You can perceive yourself to be whatever you want, but the habits and decisions you live out everyday make you who you are. I can think myself to be a kind person, but if I am not actively and practically finding ways to act out kindness, then I am not kind. I may think I am gracious, but when a dozen times a day, I refuse to extend grace, then I am not a gracious person. If I think I am a loving person, but selectively exclude people I don't like, then I am not a loving person. If I habitually complain, procrastinate, gossip, idle, then I am those very things, regardless of how I might view myself."
It's easy to kindly let someone in front of me in traffic, when it's my idea. Not so easy to be kind to the stinker who cuts me off.
It's easy to be kind to my sponsor child, who is thousands of miles away and beams at me adorably from a picture on my bookmark. Not so easy to be kind to the three children right in front of me who try my patience every single moment of every single day.
It's easy to be kind to the plumber who comes and helpfully fixes my water heater. Not so easy to be kind to my husband who is getting on my last nerve and forgot to do that chore for me again.
It's easy to be kind to that sweet person at church. Not so easy to be kind to that legalistic type who has a bone to pick with everyone.
It's easy to be kind to that mom you think is slightly beneath you. It's not so easy to be kind to that one who seems superior to you. Or vice versa.
I call myself a Christian. Which is really embarrassing sometimes, because you know what? Jesus was kind to everyone. All the time. He was kind to His mother, even when she didn't understand Him. He was kind to His bumbling, sometimes stupid disciples. He was kind to the prostitute, to the adulteress, to the thief, to a rich man, to those high in politics and religion, to those on the bottom of the social ladder in society. He was kind to the sick, to the outcasts, to the ones no one wanted. He was kind to the annoying children, the hungry people, the ones yanking on His clothes to get His attention.
He was even kind to the people torturing Him. They spit on Him, whipped Him, mocked Him and unjustly tried Him and He didn't say a word. They made Him, in His weakened state, to carry His heavy wooden cross up a hill. They nailed Him to it, naked and bleeding. They fed Him vinegar when He begged for a drink of water. Jesus didn't lash out in anger, although He would have had every right to. He didn't scream back at them or give them the cold shoulder. Know what He did? He prayed. "Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing."
This is love. This is kindness. Unconditional, self-sacrificing, loving kindness.
Be kind; everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. -Unknown
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32
