Devo – Kindness

Love your neighbor as yourself.

         You’ve probably heard that, right? You’ve probably also heard the story of the Good Samaritan. Well, anyways, let’s read it:

         Luke 10:30-37: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other lane. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. The he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

         “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

         The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

         Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

Jesus makes it sound so easy. Well, at some times it is…but if it’s someone we hate…how are we supposed to show kindness to them?? 

“Well, so, ya see, God, I know you gotta love your neighbor as yourself but…she says mean things to me and makes fun of me. I’m sure you don’t include her in that…?” 

Um, yes. He did include her in that. 

When people are mean to us, we don’t know their story. Still, it’s not okay to be mean to people, but they probably have something going on in their life. So we could (and should) show them a little extra kindness, right? 

One way I have recently, was me and my mom were at Aldi unpacking the food we had just bought, then I grabbed a quarter (you know how you need to put in a quarter to get the shopping cart?), took our shopping cart, and went over to a lady who was just about to take her cart back. I said, “Hey, would you like for me to take your cart back for you? Here’s a quarter.” I handed it to her and took the two shopping carts back.

Here are a few other ideas to help sprinkle kindness around:

• Next time you’re in line at Starbucks (drive thru or inside) and there’s a person in line behind you, buy their coffee for them.
• Is there a neighbor nearby that is going through a tough time? Bake a batch of cookies or something and give it to them! If they’re not having a bad day, you can still brighten up their day!
• When you’re out-and-about, say, the grocery store, if you see a mom with her kids, say something nice to her. I bet it’ll brighten her day!

Question: Today, who in your life could you maybe show a little extra kindness to, and how? Any other ideas on how we can sprinkle the world with kindness?