Kindness
With Colin Cramp
The meaning of kindness:
‘The quality of being generous, helpful, and caring about other people, or an act showing this quality.’
Being kind is very much a ‘doing’ thing – I can’t really show kindness to others sitting in my armchair at home! We frequent a café that doesn’t charge for your food and drink until you are finished which is an ideal place to observe those around us. Anyone sitting alone or a mum harassed by children may get their meal or drink paid for by us as a means of being kind. The world calls this a ‘random act of kindness’ but as Christians, we feel this should be part of our DNA as we mature and become more like Jesus.
In our kitchen at home, we have a quote from Charley Mackesy’s book, ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse’, which goes “What do you want to be when you grow up?” “Kind” said the boy. This is something we can all aspire to be. I agree with James where he says, “Faith without works is dead.” He wasn’t talking about doing good works to gain salvation, but to show the change Jesus had made in the lives of believers.
My wife and I were young Christians back in the eighties and in the church we were attending at the time, was an old West Indian chap who we always said “hi” to most Sundays, but never really got to know. Several years passed and he died, and it wasn’t until his funeral that it became known that he used to play trombone in Louis Armstrong’s band! That guy would have had a great story to tell about his life, but we never heard it. That is what spurs us on to talk to anyone we meet in cafes, on buses and the like because everyone has a story to tell.
I challenge everyone to have a conversation with a stranger this week and listen to their story.
May you be blessed as you take the time to listen.
