Kindness, so powerful yet so underused.

Kindness is defined as the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.  How would you describe kindness in your own words?  Friendly, generous, warm-hearted, soft-spoken; these are all words I would associate with being kind.

This is my Father.  When I think of kindness, I would imagine his face might be in the dictionary beside it.  To him, kindness is a way of life.

Throughout my lifetime, my Dads kind gentle spirit has always been shown both inside and outside of our home.  He is one of the only people I know that can find good in any situation and in any person.  If he had heard someone say something unkind to him, his response was always the same.  They didn’t mean it that way.  If he would hear me saying something unkind, he would always remind me that we are Christians, and God doesn’t want us to be unkind.  If someone stole from him, he would brush it off by saying they must need it more than I do.

And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32

He will firmly shake every mans hand and then pat them on the back.  He will give a warm hug to the women.  In every restaurant you take him to, he will undoubtedly hug the waitress and go to the kitchen to thank the cooks for making him such a good meal.  He will thank the coworkers of his grandchildren for being so kind to them and treating them well.  He will hug the nurses to thank them, and shake the doctors hand while telling him he’s the best doctor around.  He will wave at every single car that drives past the house.

He is a giver.  Throughout my lifetime I’ve watched him help everyone.  There were times I thought the people didn’t deserve his help and I would voice that.  He would quickly remind me that as Christians, we are told to help people in need.  He helped a lot of people…little things, big things, time-consuming things and expensive things.  One time in particular sticks out in my mind.  A newly single mother from town wanted to take her kids to the lake.  She didn’t have the money for the entrance fee.  She stopped at our house and asked my Dad if he had a few dollars to spare.  While I stood there shocked of her asking, my Dad quickly pulled out his wallet and gave her the entrance fee and money to get them something to eat.  He quietly taught me an important life lesson in that moment.

You will never see him without a smile on his face or hear him utter a single unkind word about someone.

Over the years time and age hasn’t been kind to him, although you would never know it.  He’s nearly 75% deaf and can only hear if it’s loud.  If there is background noise he can’t make out anything.  He’s also completely blind in one eye and nearly blind in the other.

He faithfully carried his Bible to church every Sunday.  He couldn’t read the writing in it but carried it to be a testimony to others.

He loves greeting others, although his words may be loud (because he’s deaf).  He loves shaking everyone’s hand, although it may be harder than normal (because his hands have no feeling).  He loves talking to others, although he may have to stand a little closer (because he’s blind).

The world is a cruel place.  Compassion has been reframed as gullibility.  To be kind is, after all, to be vulnerable.  We interpret small acts of random kindness as suspect–as a repressed need to be recognized, as a sign of an overly submissive nature or even as a symptom of mental illness.  Kindness is seen as weakness and weirdness.  Others may think little acts of kindness are frivolous and unimportant.

My fathers motives would undoubtedly be questioned by the world.  He would be side-eyed and whispered about.  And that, my friends, breaks my heart more than you know.  We have a serious, sad problem when an 82-year-old mans kindness is viewed that way.

Kindness is a fruit of the spirit.  Like the other fruits of the spirit, it can only be obtained through abiding in Christ.  It is an outgrowth of the genuineness of our faith.  According to the Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, the Greek word translated kindness here is “the divine kindness out of which God acts toward humankind. It is what the [Old Testament] means when it declares that ‘God is good,’ as it so frequently does. Christians should show kindness by behaving toward others as God has behaved toward them.”

Kindness is humbly giving of ourselves in love and mercy to others who may not be able to give anything back, who sometimes don’t deserve it and who frequently don’t thank us for it.

We are called to be kind to others because God is kind to us.  He loves us when we are unlovable, and He does this over and over again.  Kindness is extremely powerful.  You can change lives with your actions.  You can change lives by your words.  You can change lives with your kindness.  You can change lives by allowing Christ’s love to shine through you.  I’ve watched my Father do all of those things.

Don’t ever be afraid to show your kindness.  You might be the one voice in their life at the moment that they need to hear.  Your encouragement might be the one thing that keeps them going.  Maybe you are the one who is to help them see Jesus.

I am a heart on my sleeve kinda gal.  Always have been, always will be.

Tears come easily for me.

I cry easily and oh-too-often.  I cry when I’m sad, cry when I’m happy, cry when I’m angry and cry when I’m overwhelmed.

I seem to cry at church, a lot.  A hymn will remind me of a loved one who has passed away, a prayer will strike a chord in my heart or a sermon will resonate with me and the tears will flow.  If I can hear my Dad singing during an old hymn, the tears instantly flow.  I’m often so overwhelmed with God’s presence that tears flow down my cheeks.  And that one time I photographed a Baptism in the River…a guy just walking down the road walked directly into the water and accepted Jesus.  Whew.  That was bucketloads of tears.  Sheets of water.  A monsoon.

I cry when someone tells me a touching story about their lives.  I cry when I share a piece of my heart with another person.  It fills me with waves of sympathy, empathy or gratitude and these emotions often manifest in the form of tears for me.

I cry every single time I hear a testimony or share my testimony.  And at church camp when we used to sit around the campfire and have “testimony night”, I was thankful it was dark…I cried the entire time.  I still cry when I hear “Friends are Friends Forever”, takes me right back to our teary church camp goodbyes after a week of worshiping together.

I cry at nearly every episode of Little House and The Waltons.  I’ll cry during a movie I’ve watched 245 times, at the exact same spot, and will continue to cry for the next 100 times I watch it.  PS I Love You…Beaches…The Notebook…Steel Magnolias…Marley and Me…big fat tear fest.

I’ll cry listening to a song. Sometimes it’s because of the lyrics, sometimes the melody.  Sometimes it’s because of a memory the song brings to the surface.  Music is so powerful – a song can truly bring you right back there.  I cry every single time I hear Taylor Swift’s The Best Day.  Jade and I have coined that our song and it creates buckets and buckets of tears.

I cried when Joey Feek died.  I cry every time I read a blog post so beautifully penned by Rory.  I sobbed while I watched her funeral online.

I’ll cry as soon as I hear or see someone else crying.  After the first sniffle, hear a catch in their voice or after I see the first tear I am done.  It doesn’t matter if I know you, doesn’t matter if I know why you’re crying…I’m just here to silently cry along with you.

Goodness, I just cried this morning when I read my daughters Facebook post for her best friends birthday.  I cried as much as they did when they saw each other the last time before leaving for college.  Their hearts breaking broke my heart.

And since I’m laying it all on the line…yes, I cried when Dumbledore died.  A more accurate statement would be I was a complete sobbing mess at that part in the book.  And Snape, I cried when he died…in the book and in real life.

I’ve always been a crier.  When I was a little girl I cried when I watched Winnie the Pooh because Eeyore was so sad.  His sadness made me sad for him.  And I cried.  I cried watching the Muppet Movie when Miss Piggy was mean to Kermit.  She hurt his feelings and his sadness made me sad for him.  And I cried.

My tears have absolutely no filter.  It doesn’t matter who I’m with, who I’m talking to or what I’m doing.  As soon as I feel my throat tighten I know the flood gates are about to open.

For years I’ve been horribly embarrassed and ashamed of my tears.  So many times I’ve prayed “Lord, please let me make it through this without crying”.  It never fails though, the tears always flow.  And in the end, I’m left embarrassed that I couldn’t hold myself together.

Then one day it hit me.  Maybe these tears are my ministry.  Maybe these tears are my spiritual gift.  I can weep with those who weep, mourn with those who mourn and comfort those who need it.  Maybe my tears can keep them from feeling foolish for their tears.

I hadn’t realized before just how many criers there were in the Bible.  Jeremiah was known as “the weeping prophet” {Jeremiah 9:1}, David was a mighty warrior and king and an emotional basket case {Psalm 6:6}, the bold Apostle Paul grabbed himself some tissues {Acts 20:19} and lets not forget the shortest verse in the Bible Jesus wept {John 11:35}.

Tears play an important role in Christian life.  Often when tears are mentioned in the Bible they accompany repentance, love or sorrow for the lost.  Remember when a prostitute crashed a party at a Pharisee’s house to see Jesus?  In a shocking display, the woman wets Jesus’ feet with her tears and wipes them with her hair.  Jesus said her tears were evidence of her heart being right with God and He forgave all her sins.

God gave us these emotions and tears for a reason.  He built me this way.  He knew long before I came along that this girl was going to be a crier.  God knew about every tear I would ever shed.  If your emotions, whether it be sadness or joy, are strong enough to bring tears from your eyes then they don’t deserve to be stifled.  God can use anything we surrender to Him.  Laughter and tears.  Joys and sorrows.  Victories and mistakes.  Strengths and weaknesses.  We minister to others best when we offer our true selves, as we are, not waiting until we’ve dried up our tears.  Right now, leaks and all.

As much as I fight the tears, I am beginning to see them as tiny teachers, small messengers of deeper truths, evidence of a soul that has been moved by another.  I am learning to be thankful for them.  And to remember to carry tissues, always.

Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.
Psalm 126:6

I stood at the window, watching the leaves fall from the trees.  A gust of wind came, blowing the leaves.  First this way then the other.  They had nearly kissed the ground, now they are soaring through the air while twisting and turning.  The leaves can’t seem to find a solid place to land.

This is how life feels at times.

Overwhelming.  Blowing this way then the other, just looking for your solid place to land.

For the past two months my heart has been overwhelmed and craving a solid place to land.   It felt as if everything was blowing and changing around me, preventing me from landing.

Time and time again I tried to put my feet down and land.  Not realizing the power wasn’t in me to change it, but in Him.

My health has been on what feels like a roller coaster ride and it has taken most of my energy with it.  And it is easy in these moments of hard to get overwhelmed.  To wonder where the energy for the next moment will come from.  It’s easy to let the pain of today and the unknown of tomorrow take what energy is there and waste it away.

I can’t help but think about Jesus when he was in Gethsemane just before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion.  It was easy for Him to be overwhelmed, too, despite knowing and believing in and loving His Father.  My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death, He said to His disciples.  He fell to the ground and prayed.

And then I remember that even though He did get overwhelmed, even though He did ask for the cup to be taken from Him, He did something else in the middle of it all that night.  He gave thanks.

David also dealt with the feeling of being overwhelmed.  In Psalm 61:2-3 David said From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.  David prayed and then remembered the past goodness of God.

I’ve realized this season in my life, as every past season, is necessary.  In the necessary, I need to give thanks and remember the goodness of God.  He has a specific reason for every part of our journey.  The whole only comes after broken.  Healing only comes after wounds.

I am embracing unknown.  That in itself is a ridiculous statement.  I’m Amy, the girl that gets all twitchy, cranky and nervous at the thought of giving up the known for the unknown.  Which confirms again, it’s not me but all Him.  For the first time in months, I feel grounded and centered.  I know in my heart that I am exactly where He wants me to be.  And that, my friends, is an amazing feeling.  A feeling that is so welcomed!