The kindness quest

"This Summer let's do a kindness quest!" My thirteen year old granddaughter rolled her eyes and said,"Mimi, I learned that back in kindergarten." I smiled and thought, "Maybe it's true that all I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten."

There are somethings that seem to be so elementary but take time to really learn. I think kindness is one of those. One of the first Bible verses I taught my children was,"Be kind one to another.”  After they memorized it I repeated it to them often. But really I wonder what does it mean to be kind.

When I see the verse in context it has a deeper meaning."Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another as God in Christ forgave you.Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children." (Ephesians 4:31,32) When someone hurts me or someone I love I want to pay them back. To be kind is to give the undeserved gift of forgiveness. To be kind is to imitate God. Being kind does not come natural to me at all.

Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit. Kindness is when I humble myself and lay down my rights and give a gift to someone who doesn't deserve it. Kindness is when Jesus didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but humbled Himself coming down to earth to pay the penalty for my sins. To be kind to someone is to be gracious to them. I think perhaps this is what Jesus meant when He said, "If any would come after me he must deny himself take up his cross and follow me."

When the fruit of my union with the Spirit of God is kindness I am able to show others God's love. This effects how I respond to my family,my friends, and even my enemies. At the heart of my "kindness quest"is a desire to imitate Jesus.

Recently someone did something to make me very angry, no furious would be a better word. I was so mad I didn't know what to do. In prayer God brought kindness to mind, forgiveness, graciousness. I had to choose to pridefully claim my right to anger or humbly extend grace. I choose the latter and found that it opened the door for me to share my faith. You know, that's what God's grace does in my life too it opens my heart to be able to hear what what He wants to say.

Lord Jesus, I want to follow You. I want to imitate You. I want to show the love of God to those I know and those I don't know. I want to go on a kindness quest with my grandchildren.