Hand in Hand - Day Seven

Today was my day to practice kindness. You know - 1 Corinthians 13:4b? Love is kind?

I figured I would get my workout at church - being a greeter and trying to keep up the energy pace during our special kids' service. Or maybe tonight during the double baby shower after our evening service.

But here I sit...and I didn't greet. The team was well-staffed without me. I sat in the back pew during the special service and had zero energy for anything more than doling out Cheerios to Hannah. And I spent most of the baby shower rocking Liam to sleep - so I came home for my annual date with the Emmys feeling very much like a failure as a kind person. Mostly because I hadn't had - or hadn't sought - opportunities to try.

I thought of people I spoke with - and I was too short with them. I thought of people I passed by without even speaking. And in those moments, I wasn't kind. In truth, perhaps my only times to take advantage of the chance to be kind were the moments when I held a cup of Cheerios for a one year old so she could stick her face down in there and come out plastered with O's, and when I held a bottle for a chubby three-month-old before slowly rocking him to sleep.

But here are a couple of things I've learned today about love being kind. First, I noticed that in this verse, "Love is patient, love is kind" is a sentence all by itself. Those two things go hand in hand. When I'm patient, I'm showing kindness. And when I'm kind, I'll be patient. They're a pair.

Just for kicks, I looked up the word "kind" - and I got this. Sympathetic, helpful, friendly, thoughtful, gentle, pleasant, beneficial in action. And to that, I say, "gulp." Those things are not always my first reactions in dealing with others. Sometimes, yes. It depends on the person. Some people make it easy to be all those things. Some don't. But my job is to be patient...to be kind...no matter what's coming at me.

Thinking ahead to this week, I believe those two words are going to be my theme. Work is going to be full of opportunities to be patient, sympathetic, helpful, friendly, thoughtful, gentle, and pleasant. And just as those two things go hand in hand, they must also go hand in hand with me.

It could be a very long week. But if I work hard - it could also be a very good one!