Several years ago while I was chatting with someone, I remember the negative sentiments they expressed about someone new they had just met. Having had the opportunity to meet this new person myself and also, learn their story, I was jarred by those comments. It made me think about the times I was guilty of such myself until the Lord impressed upon my heart the significance of kindness.
The reality is that you never know what someone is going through. Behind a smile may be immense pain and suffering. There is, however, a great value in showing kindness, even when we can’t make sense of why others look the way they do, speak the way they do, or even act the way they do.
Perhaps your weekend began like mine with the shock of the news that Chadwick Boseman passed away. What was more alarming, however, was the realization that he had privately battled cancer for the past four years all while acting in profound movie roles. How devastating to read the comments hurled at him over the years when weight loss was visible but not explained.
We read about a woman named Hannah in The Message version of 1 Samuel chapter 1. As she was silently praying in her heart, the priest Eli had “jumped to the conclusion that she was drunk.” Little had he known the extent to which she had cried inconsolably and was “crushed in soul” from not being able to have a child.
We may not always have the opportunity to learn everyone’s story, but the Bible has instructions for how to handle ourselves: Colossians 3:12 (AMP) says, “So, as God’s own chosen people, who are holy [set apart, sanctified for His purpose] and well-beloved [by God Himself], put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience [which has the power to endure whatever injustice or unpleasantness comes, with good temper];”
Lord, help me to show Your kindness to others just as You show it to me. Even if I never learn what they are walking through, may our interaction be like a healing balm to soothe their pain.
~Joyce
Photo Credit: Becca Tapert on Unsplash
