Tag Archives: Kindness

God's love, relationships

Tough Words to a Tender Heart

My mother and I were visiting a great little pizza joint (Tom’s) in Paris, Tennessee over the weekend. There was a big Saturday evening crowd there, but the servers were delivering their usual great service and keeping the food and orders moving.

Our waitress sat a couple of customers just a few feet away from us. Menus were left for them and water was delivered immediately. But less than two minutes later, the woman shouted at the employee “is ANYONE going to take our order???” It was loud and made all of us around them uncomfortable. The waitress flashed a big smile and said “of course… how can I help you?”

A few minutes later this waitress delivered our bill. I apologized for the guest’s rude actions and said we hoped her night got better. She replied that she’s gotten used to this sort of behavior over the years.. and she said the best response was always to be kind. “You never know what kind of day they could be having.”

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

We can’t control how people treat us, but we can control our responses.

I pray that the next time I’m treated rudely in a store or cut off abruptly in a meeting that I’ll have the presence to provide grace. What’s going on in that person’s home? Are they dealing with an illness or a stressful situation? I hope that I’ll pause, consider their current state of mind, and then respond with kindness.

Let’s all exhibit some grace today- and to my server at Tom’s last Saturday evening…thanks for the lesson in kindness.

Please let me know how to pray for you.

Jesus loves you and I do too.

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Kindness

As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good. 2 Thessalonians 3:13

It had been a really tough week. One of those weeks where I felt intense pressure to get a huge project off my desk and I only had a couple of days to make it happen. I had been in the office late for several nights in a row. Tim, our nighttime facilities worker for the building, must have noticed the stressed, hectic activity over the three-day span. Usually conversational and engaging, he simply cleaned around my office and generally left me alone. This was fine with me, as I needed to press forward as quickly and as focused as possible.

One evening as I was leaving, I noticed a small package sitting in my outer office. It was a plate of food- leftovers from a luncheon that had occurred earlier in the day. There was a sticky note on the top of the covered plate that said “you’ve had a lot on your plate this week…hope this plate of dinner might help you. Good luck.”

This sort of thing certainly wasn’t in Tim’s job description. But Tim noticed that I was rushed, stressed and probably not that pleasant to be around. This one simple act of kindness changed my whole outlook on the project- and especially my day.

We are often consumed with our own projects, worries and thoughts. I pray for increased awareness to look around me and see how I can help others. It’s not always in those big, courageous acts either. We can lift the spirit of another with a simple, unspoken action.

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:18

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

May we all be made aware of opportunities for kindness to others. God bless.

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