Love is patient, love is kind  (1 Corinthians 13:4).

Kindness is harder than it looks.

I mean, on the one hand, it’s no big deal. It’s not like you’re rushing into a burning building to save puppies and babies and my grandma.

That’s heroism, not kindness.

It’s not like you’ve locked yourself in a lab and dedicated your life to the eradication of smallpox or polio.

That would be selfless, and also kinda sad since we have those diseases under control, but not kind.

It’s not like you’re staring unblinking down the barrel of a machine gun, singing hymns at the top of your lungs and slightly off-key while a terrorist demands that you reject Christ.

That would be…I don’t know what that would be, but it’s way beyond kindness.

Kindness is the little things.

Letting someone go ahead of you in line

Helping someone up after they’ve tripped, and not laughing until you’re sure that they’re OK

Listening to the story you’ve already heard 1000 times and laughing even though it wasn’t even funny the first time

In short, kindness is seeing the other person, noticing what they need, and meeting it–even if it costs you something and gains you nothing.

Let’s face it–Your chances to be heroic today are pretty slim. I mean, how likely is it that you’re going to come across a burning building, unless you set the fire yourself, and I’m pretty sure you don’t get hero points in that case.

But

you will have multiple opportunities to be kind today.

Take them.

Happy Thursday, Beloved