We Remember Acts of Kindness

THE KINDNESS REMAINS

Jesus can be as hard as flint at the very moment He is as tender as a mother. He can be tenderly terrible and terribly tender.

A little orphaned boy was practically adopted by a soldier during the war. One day he let slip a swear word, and when he did, he looked around for the disapproval and rebuke of his adopted guardian. But instead the soldier laughed and said, “Never mind, Sonny, say all that kind of thing you want.” The little fellow thought a moment and then burst into tears and said, “If you were my father, you wouldn’t say that.” He felt he wanted and needed something more than sentimental kindness. He wanted to be saved by hard refusals.

With this redemptive content put into kindness we now consider our growth in kindness. Perhaps now we can quote these lines, since we have put into kindness a higher meaning:

So many gods, so many creeds,
So many paths that wind and wind,
When all that this sad world needs
Is just the art of being kind.

That kindness is important is seen by the fact that we remember an act of kindness when all events slip out of memory. The kindness remains. At a time when bitterness was strong between Britain and India, I found a prominent Indian wearing a white flower in his buttonhole each day. He explained to me that when he was in Britain studying, the English landlady used to put a white flower in his buttonhole each day. The kindness stood out like a star on a dark night of bitterness.

The Finnish people have treated me with many honors – large crowds, eager listeners – but the one thing that stands out is the act of an unknown Finnish lady who ran out into the street in the snow, stopped the car and handed me a flower through the window. That flower blooms fresh and fragrant in my grateful memory.

O Father, help me this day to do some little act of kindness that may live in somebody’s memory forever. Amen.

AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I cover all ugly unkindness with the same robe of kindliness with which He covers my ugliness.

Eight Anonymous Essays about Kindness

Eight essays about kindness are being offered, starting with this one entitled "Growth in Kindliness". I do not know who the author is. Three years ago someone handed me six very old pages that looked as if they had been torn from a book. Or, they were part of a daily devotions wall-hanger. They have been typed for your edification.

I. GROWTH IN KINDLINESS

We come now to the next fruit of the Spirit – kindliness.
This is a very homely virtue, homely in the British sense of belonging to the home – a very commonplace, ordinary virtue. And yet it is ordinary as salt, and as essential. Without kindliness there is no virtue in the other virtues. It puts a flavor into all the other virtues; without it they are insipid and tasteless; or worse, they degenerate into vices. Love, joy, peace, good temper; without kindliness are very doubtful virtues. So it is no chance that this is the middle virtue of the nine, putting flavor into all the others.

So to grow in kindliness is to grow in virtues that are flavored with a certain spirit. The spirit of kindliness pervades everything. The Old Testament, especially the Psalms, uses the expression "loving-kindness." A little boy explained the difference between kindness and loving-kindness: "Kindness is when your mother gives you a piece of bread and butter, but it is loving-kindness when she puts jam on it as well.

But in the New Testament a content has gone into kindness that made the adding of "loving" unnecessary. We have quoted a passage into which the content of Jesus has gone into the words: "Treat one another with the same spirit as you experience in Christ Jesus" (Phil.2:5, Moffatt). Not merely the same actions, but the same spirit in the actions as was in Jesus. This is the high water of morality in this universe. Beyond this the human race will not, and cannot, progress. This is a character and conduct ultimate. This gives kindness a plus – an infinite plus.

And this saves kindness from mere maudlin sentimentality. It can be very severe – severe because He loves so deeply that He often has to save us by hard refusals. And His kingdom can cut – it can cut when, like a surgeon, He insists on cutting out of us moral tumors and cancers. But always His severity is security. It is redemptive. He loves us too much to let us go.


O Christ, show Your kindness to me this day even if it be a cutting kindness, for I don’t want leniency; I want life. Amen.


AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I want God to be kind to me in the form that my deepest necessities demand.

God's Servants win Nobel Prize

Three scientists were recently awarded The Nobel Prize for Physics. One laid the groundwork for the globe-circling fiber optic networks that transmit most of the world’s communications.

Two others discovered enormous new possibilities with light that led to our cell-phones and digital cameras.

Willard Boyle, George Smith and Charles K. Kao have changed our world,mostly for the better.

These men, like all who improve life on earth, are instruments of God. What came out of their many years of research and work points directly to the mind of God operating in their minds.

Regardless of whether or not these men are people of faith, we who are people of faith must give thanks to God for them, and their work. Not only that, we should honor them and give them acclaim, naming their work as God’s work.

Making the world a better, happier, healthier, more beautiful and a safer place, is one basic part of “Building the Kingdom

It would be totally appropriate to call these men into church and publicly give them honor and admiration. They could then be acclaimed as faithful servants of God—even if they didn’t believe it, or know it!
We are promised “a new heaven and a new earth” by Jesus. His resurrected body, changed and different, was the first evidence of something new and wonderful to come. Everything we do that improves life, whether simple or complex, is an early contribution to the new heaven and new earth to come.

Christians are called to that kind of living. In addition we must notice, stand in awe and appreciation of, anything wondrous that is discovered or developed for humankind’s well-being. It is the work of God.

Amateurs are the Best

Amateurs are the Best

Encouragement, appreciation, and loving-kindness in any shape or form may be best when offfered by an amateur.

The word amateur is derived from the Latin word amore which means "to love'.

So amateurs do it for the love of it. Professionals do it as part of their work. Professionals are needed. There is love in their hearts too.but amateurs are the real "lights of the world".

It Was Only a Touch!!

The Power of a Touch
At a recent dinner/entertainment event something happened I want to tell you about. During the dinner I had strolled around the tables greeting and chatting with the diners, joking and kidding most of the time.

A few weeks after that dinner I met a handsome older man (turned out he is 82 years old) who told me he had been present that day. He then shared something that thrilled me to the depths of my soul, and stunned me with its importance. He said that I had walked past him when he was sitting at a table and that I had laid my hand ever so briefly on his shoulder, as I went by. Then he added “That touch absolutely blessed me!” And he said a little more about what a strong moment that had been.

A touch as I walked by! So small! So appreciated! A touch?! And he was moved, his spirits were lifted, his mood was changed.

Again I am jolted into awareness of the importance of our Care and Kindness campaign. This is life changing business. This is spreading spiritual medicine everywhere we go. And anyone and everyone is able to take part. It takes so little to heal a soul

World Brightening Behavior # 6

Smile Generously. Your smile is always available. Remember to turn it on.

1. Anyone, regardless of age, or level of intelligence, can lift another’s spirits by giving a smile.
2. Not only is the other person lifted, you, the one smiling, are lifted. There is evidence that putting on a smile also makes the person offering the smile feel better.
3. Smiling may raise our immunity level. Research suggests that when Botox is applied to a frown, taking the frown away, the person is often less depressed and more positive in their outlook. The muscles of the face seem to be connected to the chemical system.
4. Frowns generate bad chemicals. Smiles produce beneficial chemicals.

5. Turn your smile on even if you do not feel like smiling.

6. Smile! Brighten the world. Heal troubled and broken hearts.

This is What Jesus would Have Done--I think

Demonstrating the Love of Jesus to a Frightened Young Man
At approximately 12:30, during lunch hour, I was called to the church lobby to talk with a young man who was there needing to be settled down. I went and met Mike. It was obvious to me, as an experienced psychiatric chaplain, that he was confused, frightened, agitated and obviously mentally ill. He was not boisterous, threatening or angry. Mostly upset, but quietly sitting there. He said he was afraid of the medication they insisted he take and so he had run away from the psychiatrist’s office.

He and I spent about forty minutes together and were relating rather well, when the Security man whispered to me that the police were coming. He had left a psychiatric facility, without permission, and his mother was worried about his safety. I was asked if I would try to keep him in the lobby until the police arrived. I agreed, and continued my counseling with him.

About ten minutes later “Mike” spotted the police coming down the sidewalk. With a frightened cry he got up and ran toward the back fire escape. I was right behind him and stopped him as he reached the first step. I wrapped my arms around him and attempted to console him. At that very instant the two policeman entered the stairwell and grabbed for him. Since I had my arms around him I asked them to wait so I could quiet his fears with a prayer. Then I would let them take him. (I imagined we then would all quietly walk to the Police Cruiser and they would return him to where he was receiving care). They refused completely.

Instead the Police grabbed for him and roughly grabbed my arms and tried to pull them off Mike. I kept my arms around Mike and pleaded that they wait a minute so I could calm his fears with a prayer. At the same time I identified myself as a Pastor of the church. While this was happening Mike was quietly standing, embraced by me. He was not belligerent, yelling, fighting or resisting anything. He was just scared.

When I failed to release him I was forcibly pulled off, and told to turn around so that handcuffs could be put on me. I was furiously angry at the way they were treating this frightened, ill young man, and I said so. Mike was roughly pushed against the wall and handcuffed. I was warned that if I did not turn around for my handcuffing I would be thrown to the ground. After that warning, I let him handcuff me.
Mike was not a dangerous young man. I had established a relationship with him and he could have, and should have been, gently and kindly taken by the hand and delivered to the police car. If they had paused, respected me, and allowed me to finish my counseling responsibility—the prayer, I could also have assured them he was of no danger.

That was obvious anyway. The volunteers in the lobby could easily testify that he was not a threat, just a confused young man. My job was/is to show the love of Jesus to these sick and frightened people, like Mike, and to see to it they are treated with respect and kindness.

Mike had run to the church. He regarded it as a safe and loving place, and that is my job to reinforce that impression. I wanted to create a loving caring atmosphere for him so that he would continue to regard the church as a place of loving kindness.

Instead, he was treated like a dangerous lawbreaker. His lifelong memory of the Christian Church will be of a place where he was roughed up, handcuffed, and treated like a criminal.

I was treated like one too. I was handcuffed, forced to sit on the concrete, pushed into the back seat of a police car, with no leg room. Then I was delivered to the Police Station. There I was given no helping hand to exit the back area even though with my hands cuffed I could scarcely maneuver out of the space. I was then relieved of everything I had in my pockets. My money was counted, I frisked front and back and between my legs, searched, fingerprinted, photographed-front, left side and right side. Next I was taken into a small room, read my rights, warned that I would probably have to pay restitution, and appear in court. Then I was released.

This was one of the most degrading experiences of my life. I had cooperated fully to make sure Mike was there when the police arrived. I stopped his frightened fleeing so the police could take him. I embraced him in a caring manner to say a loving and reassuring prayer with him—which was roughly and crudely denied me.
There was no appreciation, respect, or recognition that I was in a counseling relationship with Mike and caring for him. There was no looking at Mike to see if he was any kind of threat.

No act I have ever performed was more clearly and simply expressing and showing the love of Jesus. Obviously even loving-kindness is not without its risks.