I adore 70's television. The Brady Bunch, Happy Days, and Laverne and Shirley were all so reassuring. No matter what problems each episode contained, everything was solved within 30 minutes. Don't you just love a quick wrap up?
These are enormously complex times; loud voices, loud opinions, and downright mean people seem to be flourishing. The issues are more complicated than anything Ritchie Cunningham faced. Hard, unrelenting and unmerciful concrete is continually being poured between all of us; in the news, on social media, in our own hearts. There are so many things inside and out that are threatening to divide and disperse us.
And yet, each one of us have a resource that can shine light into the darkness. No matter how powerless any one person might feel, no matter how little money, time, or influence we possess, we can be beacons of light.
You, my friend, are the keeper of kindness.
Kindness understands that someone else's vulnerabilities and needs are similar to yours. When you care for someone else, you recognize and honor their humanity as much as your own. When you are motivated by kindness, it will influence your relationships, shape your perspectives, and guide how you respond to those incendiary posts on social media. Kindness is a manifestation of Jesus.
It doesn't require you to agree. It doesn't ask for a lot of words. Kindness is happy to be anonymous. It has no need for vigilance, carefulness, or security. It doesn't even need to be logical. It can just be. Kindness is content to chip away at the world's hardness one tiny crack at a time.
It blesses both the recipient and the giver. In it's humble, unpretentious way, kindness weaves us tighter together as fellow humans.
"How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a weary world."
- Shakespeare (from the Merchant of Venice)
I wish the world worked like a 70's show. I wish our conflicts were resolved with a bright idea from Mike Brady that would cue the slow background Brady music, make everything okay and teach us a valuable lesson in the process. Then again, if everything were wrapped up in 30 minutes or less, kindness would be irrelevant. We could all go our separate ways; unaffected by one another.
Today is your day to shine. Mother Teresa said, "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." Be kind to the people lucky enough to cross your path. Honor their humanity with your own. Make small cracks in the concrete this world is attempting to pour between us. Let's find one another in the muck and mire of all that complicates this world.
Let kindness lead the way.
-MM
Melissa Maimone is a Christian speaker and author of the book "Gathering Dandelions: Meditations and Musings on Faith, Fracture, and Beauty Mistaken for a Weed"She resides in Southern California with her husband and children. Subscribe to the Sparrow Sisters Monthly Journal HERE