“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
-John 13:35
Years ago, as a stressed-out mom of four little boys, I made a trip to Kroger to do a little grocery shopping. I don’t remember who watched my boys or even where they were. I don’t remember what I was buying or what my plans were for the rest of the day. I do remember this. I felt tired, worn-down, and unattractive.
I also remember exactly what I was wearing, and here’s the reason why. A woman came up to me and said, “I love your headband and shirt. It matches so nicely.” A green headband and a green shirt. There was absolutely nothing special about the outfit. I am actually not a fan of green. It is my least favorite color, and my hair was pulled back in a headband because I spent very little time fixing it.
Yet a stranger complimented me, and years later, I still remember her words. Why? Because she made me smile. She made me think a little better of myself. She made me feel good.
You never know the power of one small act of kindness. Answering softly when you feel like yelling. Giving more when you feel like you have nothing left to give. Thinking about others when you feel left out. Listening even when you’re in a hurry. We can all practice kindness in our everyday lives.
Unfortunately, we don’t.
We usually get so wrapped up in our own little worlds—how we look, how we feel, what we want, what our opinions are—that we forget to think about the people around us. I think it’s because somewhere in the course of our human existence, we have begun to believe a lie. We seem to think that we all have to look alike, think alike, talk alike and act alike in order to be friends—or even to be friendly.
It’s not true.
I am a conservative, a Republican, a home school mom, and a wife. I am Southern Baptist and a southern woman. Most importantly, I am a Christian. Given those qualifiers, people who know me usually know where I stand on issues of politics, religion, education, and morality. But, guess what? Not all my friends agree with me on all those issues. In fact, I would venture to say that there are very few who agree with me on every single one. And that’s OK.
We can agree to disagree. We can love each other despite our differences. Under the best circumstances, we may actually learn a thing or two from one another, and under the worst circumstances, we can still be kind. As semi-intelligent human beings, we should have enough self-control to understand that while we are entitled to our own opinion, we don’t always have to express it. While we have the freedom to tell people what we think, we should have the self-control to know when to keep our thoughts to ourselves.
Anne Frank, a Jewish teenager who was killed in the Holocaust wrote, “You can always give something, even if it is only kindness.”
So, during this, the month of love, let’s try a little harder to be decent human beings, loving God enough to love our fellow men and women. That may require that we bite our tongue, that we log off social media, that we smile even when we get cut off, that we willingly sacrifice so that someone else can benefit. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a small price to pay to be the hands, feet, arms, and heart of God, to be His physical presence to the people around us. After all, Christ through His life and death showed us the most profound kindness of all, and we have the privilege of sharing that love every day.
For Heaven’s sake, people, let’s just be kind.