Find your kindness now.

Recently I have been thinking about what kindness looks like, which is due to the fact that I have been listening to some Rend Collective Experiment and Jenny & Tyler. The lyrics of a few songs of theirs' speak of our society, ourselves, and people in general, echoing my own thoughts and feelings exactly as of late. It's been bothering me, and I have talked with a friend about it, but not as in-depth as I would have liked. It is most definitely a hard subject to touch on because of all that it entails, and I could go more into it than I am planning on, but I will make it shorter for your sake. With all of this, I have found that kindness is sometimes difficult to stumble upon. There is a quote that often think of because it rings so much truth, and it goes like this: "Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." It's not very often that I see others doing or saying something to help another person in some sort of way. We see more cruelty every day than the love that we long to see and take hold of ourselves. But when I come across at least "the smallest act of caring," I am blown away by how incredible that it truly is and how much power it could have to change a life.

I wonder what our lives would look like if we did more for others rather than limiting ourselves to showing compassion to only certain people. What about the "untouchables" of society? Don't they still need love? What ever happened to sacrificing one's wants and needs for the sake of another? As I have been thinking about all of those things, a poem that I had written a couple of years ago and posted on here seems perfect for this. It's a very angry poem, but it's filled with much accuracy. I titled it "Never for the World" because of this: we are always so set on ourselves and what is best for us, rather than what may be best for the other person. We can see it everywhere, that there is pain and sorrow and bitterness every time that we look into another's eyes. Why can't we just get over ourselves? What if we were to reach out to the man with the awkward social tendencies, or even the man that is sitting on the side of the highway with nothing to eat or drink? We may think that it's best for us to just keep on going as we were before on our own merry way, but do we ever stop to realize that perhaps they have absolutely no one to talk to and everybody avoids them like the plague? And that man or woman on the side of the highway could possibly be a drunkard, but what if we assumed for once that they weren't and took them out to lunch? What if we were not too quick to judge them?

Selfishness and all of that jazz is wired within us, and that selfishness is mirrored throughout all of society, as I am sure that you have noticed like I have. But maybe, just maybe it doesn't have to be that way. Maybe people could do things for others in a genuine manner instead of just brushing them off and looking after themselves. Maybe sacrificial people still exist, with genuinely compassionate hearts. Maybe we need an example. Maybe that example has already been given to us. And maybe without Him we cannot truly do or be anything selfless. This example of Christ and His humility is told so beautifully in Philippians 2, which you should definitely read through. It shows us how we ought to strive to be like the one that wants to give us hearts just like His own.

If only we would lay down our lives for the sake of another, despite what others may think about us, dying daily to ourselves and letting the Spirit of God dwell within our hearts. Then we would truly be able to become more like the man who paid the ultimate price - who portrayed the ultimate sacrifice. He gave Himself to be sin for all of us. All that we must do is surrender to Him and we will be free from the slavery of sin - we will be free. And we must share and show that hope to others, no matter where they may have come from.

Sometimes there is only so much that we can do for others, things that they may be going through being beyond our human help. That is when they need Jesus - the Healer. It also very much depends on the circumstances. I learned a lot about that last year, through much heartbreak and many tears. Everything that I have gone through always has taught me something. That brings to mind a C.S. Lewis quote that goes like this: "Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn." C.S. Lewis was so right. I would often find myself being angry and upset or crying about other people's sorrow and the suffering that they had experienced, wishing that I could just take all of it from them. It was like I would seem to forget that Jesus already did that, and all that I had to do was tell them exactly that (which I realized later). I am not saying that I am the perfect example by any means, because I, too, am at fault, and I am a lot. We all fail and fall short; we are all messes; and we all have our vices. I am human, and God is still working within me to make me more like the Son. My point in that story is this: We can only be so much for others, and we can only take on so much ourselves, but that does not give us an excuse to give up on them. After we tell them to go to Jesus, we must intercede on their behalf through prayer. We can find our kindness. But we must find Jesus before we do so and we must surrender to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him change our lives and transform our hearts.

"Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, let me pardon.
Where there is darkness, let the Light come, come."

"May I incarnate Your kindness, Lord...

Let my delight be living out Your dreams, washing dirty feet, and kissing Yours.

God, let Your dreams come true - dream through us."