I've been diligently working on the fruits of the spirit, and one of them is to be kind, always. Oh that’s easy, you say!? Well, it’s really NOT! Once I started really checking myself, I realized that sometimes, just sometimes, I’m not a very kind person. Not in the way God is to me. Because you see, kindness does not hold any standards. It doesn’t ask, “What have you done for me lately?” Kindness is the appropriate response to any wrongdoing from the world onto us. True kindness is letting go completely of any prejudice and loving the un-loveable. And that, my friends, is not easy. Especially if you’re not consistently monitoring how you behave towards others. It is so easy for me to be kind to those who are kind to me. I love being kind to people who give me presents… and compliments… and fan me… and feed me grapes… and put treasures at my feet. It’s a little difficult to be nice to someone who just pooped on my lawn, if you know what I mean.
So case in point; Today, I was running a tad bit late for my madre’s birthday celebration. At my dismay, I got stuck at a red light because the amazing Ford Focus in front of me wasn’t focusing on the task at hand, that being driving! He was dilly-dawdling and what do ya know, biggidy bam, we got stuck at the looooongest red light ever. See not kind there….. As I’m waiting, I turn my head to the left and see a homeless man standing with his sign reading, “Homeless, need help, God bless.” For a split second, I turn away so that I don’t have to “see” the man, because if I don’t “see” him than I don’t need to help, right? Life is full of these split second decisions, decisions that threaded together compile our daily story, and in the end tell us who we are. Who do you want to be? The person who took the time to search in their hearts to see what act of kindness they could perform, even if it was at the expense of their time or money? Or the person who looked away to not be inconvenienced? There I was in my car, blessed as all can be and I got convicted very quickly. I knew I didn’t have any cash on me to give to the man wearing drabs, the man who in 3 seconds I judged and turned away from. But I felt in my heart the need to do something. His sign read, “need help.” How could I help in the next minute I was stuck at this light? I worked quickly to get the foil and tightly wrapped saran wrap. (By the way, why is saran wrap so awesome and why is it so hard to get unwrapped, I will never know. Sorry, back to the story. I allow myself at least one tangent per story, moving on!) I removed the saran wrap to get my freshly baked Tres Leches (that’s three milks) cupcakes and I rolled my window down and gave the man my cupcake. He smiled at me and I knew I had done the right thing. I couldn’t help but keep looking at him, hoping to see what his reaction was after eating my cupcake. He took a bite, and made the most awesome face ever! Then, he turned to me and with a smile and a side of thumbs up he said, “This is good!”
Wow, who got blessed there? ME, that’s who! I got such joy in my heart that, number one, I did something kind, and number two, the homeless man loved my baked goodies.
Okay, I am not saying that I will be kind every second of every day. Let’s face it, I’m human and I’m going to fail time and time again. BUT, being more conscious of my actions will help me bear the fruit of kindness, as well as realizing that kindness will blossom even more when I allow God stirring in me. Be kind and rewind ya’ll!
Stay blessed, stay saucy!!
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