Weekend Kindness
Reaching Others Through Kindness

Look who’s participating in this week’s mission:

Shelli at Shelli’s Place
Mary at Home-Steeped Hope
MInTheGap

If you haven’t done one yet, hurry up! The deadline is Wednesday when we announce the next mission!

View Weekend Kindness Entries as they Appear!

Each of us will go through situations where we will need to be on the receiving end of kindness.  Either we will need it to lift our spirits, to help us through sickness, to help us in times of trials.

Fortunately for us, no matter where we are in the world, we can receive kindness from God– as lindy in s. korea learned:

So yesterday, (Monday) I started feeling the heaviness of homesickness. Now, ever since I’ve been here, I’ve felt waves of it come and go, naturally; nothing that has gotten me depressed by any means. This time, however, it feels bad. Maybe the weather change has something to do with it. I just feel tired and sort of achy.

…

Interestingly enough, my roommate Tina found an email I sent her on August 5th, that talks about Psalm 107:23-32,”Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters; they have seen the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, and were at their wits’ end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet; so He guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men! Let them extol Him also in the congregation of the people, and praise Him at the seat of the elders.”

Even in a place that’s far from home, kindness from a roommate and from God can be something that can carry us through.

This one should be pretty easy– and any of you out there can do it! This week’s Weekend Kindness mission is to Send a love letter listing the reasons “Why I love you so much.” If there are some you’d like to share, turn it into a post talking about your spouse and build them up!

My’s Space lists Ten Ways to Marry the Wrong Person, and one of them is a test about kindness.

 

#2. You pick the wrong person because you focus more on chemistry than on character.

Chemistry ignites the fire, but good character keeps it burning. Beware of the “I’m in love” syndrome. “I’m in love” often means, “I’m in lust.” Attraction is there, but have you carefully checked out this person’s character?

Here are four character traits to definitely check for:

Humility: Does this person believe that “doing the right thing” is more important than personal comfort?

Kindness: Does this person enjoy giving pleasure to other people? How does s/he treat people s/he doesn’t have to be nice to? Does s/he do volunteer work? Give charity?

Responsibility: Can I depend on this person to do what s/he says s/he’s going to do?

Happiness: Does this person like himself? Does s/he enjoy life? Is s/he emotionally stable?

Ask yourself: Do I want to be more like this person? Do I want to have a child with this person? Would I like my child to turn out like him or her?

This is a good test.  We all need to make sure that the one that we want to spend our life with is someone that lives a life of kindness and doesn’t just demonstrate kindness to us because they feel in love with us.  Character lasts a whole lot longer than emotion.

I’m reposting a story I found on Guys On Life which was originally written as fiction by Elizabeth Silance Ballard (now Elizabeth Ungar).  Although it is fiction, it is a good illustration of what kindness can do for the object of said kindness:

As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.

Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant.

It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X?s and then putting a big ?F? at the top of his papers.

At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child?s past records and she put Teddy?s off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. (more…)

As humans we are constantly changing– it’s the nature of who we are.  We are more than what we eat, however.  We are the sum of what we do, and every action can effect the next one.

Although I disagree with Cat’s conclusion in her post about how we learn (that we should not strive for perfection), I can appreciate her thought process:

Then let us learn them. Let us make our weaknesses and strengths we learn from them count for something. To master our lessons, to learn how to give and receive true love, through acts of kindness, which Honor Him, because in doing so, we honor ourselves. It doesn..t matter where you..ve been. You are not the person you were yesterday and you aren..t the person you will be tomorrow. You are more than your hurts, needs, weaknesses, fears, and worries. Every day is a new beginning, every day we get to say ..Ohhhhhhh…I GET it! Every day we get to put a new foot forward.., It..s a new day, child!! Miracles are waiting.

It’s true that we can either wallow in what happened yesterday or work toward what we can do to be our best today.  We need to make today count and then have a platform from which we can make tomorrow even better!

One of the great things about being kind is that you can show kindness to anyone and who you choose to show kindness to shows something about you too.  The ones that may need your kindness might be those that you’d least like to be kind to; however, they’re also the ones that your kindness will have its greatest impact.

Lisa Brady…MIGHTY!!! asks these questions of herself in a post titled “Good Morning, Ephesus!”

So, I guess I have to ask myself the question–it begs to be asked, after all: “Hey, Lisa, who do you love? What walls of division have you built in your heart to keep certain people out? Do you feel differently about some people that worship ME in your church than you do about others? Do you think people from other churches who sing different styles than you or dance funny or shout louder or dress more conservatively than you are uncool? Do you treat people all the same on the outside, but in your heart you categorize those who’ve made what you would call big mistakes with their lives?” Ouch.

Now there are things that are worth standing on and division because of the cause of Christ is obedience, but if we’re dividing on petty things, how does that show kindness in our hearts?