Lately I’ve been convicted about kindness.

I’ve been hearing some horror stories about how people have been treated in the shadow of the coronavirus. Stories from essential workers being yelled at by people because they didn’t have something in stock, or they didn’t do something ‘supposedly’ the right way.

Yesterday morning, I heard from one of my friends, who works at a pretty popular regional restaurant, about how they had to ask a gentleman to leave last week because he was upset there was one item on their newly-reopened salad bar that they did not have.

I started thinking…very transparently…if your life revolves around the fact that you can’t have a certain type of salad; potato, macaroni, broccoli, whatever, then you probably need to look in the mirror and figure out what’s really wrong.

Then I started thinking… have I had moments in my life where I allowed one really insignificant thing to kill my kindness? I actually found a few.

Many of you are familiar with the ABC-TV show ‘Full House’ and the recent Netflix sequel, ‘Fuller House.’ One of the stars is Candace Cameron Bure. She wrote a devotional for Proverbs 31 Ministries a couple of years ago called ‘a call for kindness’ and it has so much significance today. Click here to read it. It encourages us to have great hope in the midst of an unkind world.

I see 2020 as a continuing watershed moment in our faith. Can we be the voice of kindness? Can we be the voice of loving and listening? Are we tuned into people that need an encouraging word today? I certainly hope so.

Titus 3: 4-5 says, “but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared he saved us not because of works done by us and righteousness but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.“

Thanks for listening!
– Joe