Kindness. Love. Helpful. Encouraging.

When was the last time someone was kind or helpful towards you?

Can you pinpoint an exact instance recently?

Have you showed kindness and love to those around you lately?

Depending on the situation, it can be easy to try and justify why we don’t have to smile at everyone that we pass on the sidewalk or down the produce aisle at the grocery store.

We are human. So, we are not going to be bubbling over with happiness 24/7.

We let things get to us. We let someone not smiling or saying hello get to us.

What if we turned the tables?

What if we took the initiative?

Instead of waiting on others to be kind and encouraging, we decide to make the first move.

If we see someone that could use a smile or a compliment, why not go ahead and offer some encouraging words?

God’s love for us is incomprehensible. It’s so vast and wide, we can’t help but be in awe.

He wants us to show His love to others. No matter their opinions and political views.

We should be throwing kindness like confetti. We should be showering love to where everyday feels like Valentine’s Day. (Not in the romantic way, but in a loving everyone kind of way)

No matter our current situation, we should be showing love and kindness wherever we go.

John 13:34

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

God commands us to love others as He has loved us.

Anyone that shows unkindness towards you just means that they need some extra encouragement.

Instead of putting up our guard and being ready to fight and defend ourselves, why not think before lashing out?

Think about how to respond before responding. Even though this is super hard to do, we can do it with God’s help.

God may bring someone along your path for a brief moment and that moment could have been the only time the person would’ve seen God’s love.

Let’s respond in love. Let’s show God’s love to others.

 

Book recommendation:

“Everybody Always” by Bob Goff

I just finished reading “Everybody Always” by Bob Goff. To say I guzzled the words like a camel drinking water in the desert would be an understatement.

There are certain words that are needed at a certain time in each of our lives. This book was a much needed reminder of how we are to love others. No matter if they are difficult or not.

In chapter 6, Bob tells of an exercise to use when dealing with difficult people:

“Here’s how it works: When I meet someone who is hard to get along with, I think, Can I love that person for the next thirty seconds? While they continue to irritate me, I find myself counting silently, … twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine…and before I get to thirty, I say to myself, Okay, I’m going to love that person for thirty more seconds.”

Loving people can be hard. Why get out of our comfort zone when that’s where we prefer to be?

With all that’s going on in the world, difference of opinions, political views, I believe God would want us to show love to everyone no matter their stance on a certain subject.

God is love and He wants us to show His love to others.

I highly recommend the book!