The Grateful Heart: Worldwide Kindness

Today, November 13, is the World Kindness Day. This day is sponsored by the World Kindness Movement. Dr. Wataru Mori was a Tokyo physician who saw the problems in the world and longed to make a difference. He believed that a "critical mass" of acts of kindness around the world could help to make a "more compassionate and peaceful world." Nearly two decades ago, he convened a series of conferences designed to promote kindness and the "World Kindness Movement" was begun. Now, there are 25 participating nations. 

As part of the World Kindness Movement, a Worldwide day for kindness was established. It is always on November 13. Participants are encouraged to be kind to those around them.

It's an interesting concept, isn't it? I'm grateful for people who are kind and touched by the generosity of spirit that conceived this movement. I wonder, though, if Dr. Mori knew about Ephesians 4:32. "Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." 

Had he heard of the Golden Rule? Jesus, in Matthew 7:12, instructed His followers in kindness. "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you." 

Dr. Mori did not actually start the worldwide kindness movement. That job was accomplished by Jesus. He instructed us to be kind and He expected us to treat others in a good and loving manner.

When I see the discord, strife, fighting, and anger in the world today, I have to wonder what the body of Christ has done about kindness. Are we more concerned about red cups and holiday greetings than being kind to those around us? One day, we will give an account of our lives, and I shudder to think how we will explain the red cup controversy.

For today, let's put down our individual "causes" and pick up the cause of Christ. Let's act like Jesus would have us act, treat others as He would have us treat them, be kind to those who are not.

Let us live sieve-like, so that the love of Christ leaks out to all around us in such a way that they are refreshed by our kindness and drawn to the One who is the source of all goodness and love.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In case you missed any of the past week's posts, here are the links: Maggie: Wanting Eye Drops, Grateful Heart: Superheroes and Missions Conference , The Blessings That Were Not,  Loss of Power, Grateful Heart: Veterans, and Grateful Heart: Laughter

The most read posts of the past week: The Grateful Heart: Orchestration of God

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want an easy act of kindness? Send a 99 cent e-book to a friend.

Here's the link to The Clay Papers, and here's the link to The Road to Bethlehem (an advent devotional book). 

~~~~~~~~~~~

#WorldKindnessDay #GoldenRule #JesusChrist #disciple

Keeping My Word

Sam and I have had quite a week of it. Unbearably hard. Unutterably sweet. That's Sam in the picture above. I don't have a picture of Jamie. No one does. She doesn't allow pictures of herself. Sam just says, "Well, Jamie is Jamie. All the time."

If you're joining us today for the first time in this "series" (the series I wish I weren't writing), you need to know that Sam and Jamie have lived on my farm for most of the last sixty years. Jamie is Sam's wife, and they are both in the mid-eighties. Jamie collapsed at their home, a tiny cottage at the entrance to my farm, more than a week ago. She was hospitalized until yesterday, when she was moved to Sanctuary Hospice House. 

It's been hard.

I've blogged about the journey this week and will add links at the bottom for the previous posts, if you want to get caught up. (They open in a separate window.)

Today, I want to tell you how I got to this place in the Wiley's story.

I bought the farm in 1989. The woman who owned the farm before me had the property on the market for two years. She had turned down all buyers because she didn't think they were the "right" ones. By the time my real estate agent and I pulled into her driveway, she had given up, and was working out the details with a buyer.

When I stepped out of the car, I wasn't particularly impressed by the two-story concrete block house, but we walked around to the back, alongside a pasture where cows grazed contentedly, toward a small manmade lake in the back. 

I started to cry. It was the exact picture that had been in my head since I was a child. 

I was home. At last.

Shirley looked at the real estate agent, who turned out to be her agent, too, and said, "I'm about to sell to the wrong person." In a series of events that could have only been the hand of God, I bought this lovely little farm with the unusual concrete house. 

The thing that mattered most to Shirley was that Sam, the man who had worked for her and her husband since 1960 (29 years), have "a place". She asked that I keep Sam on at his same salary and give him a place to live for the rest of his life. I agreed to do it.

I gave my word.

I was young. I didn't know about the perils and challenges of growing older. I didn't know about the financial responsibility that agreement would bring. I didn't know what giving my word would mean to me, what it would cost me. I didn't know the joy that becoming a woman of my word would bring.

Sam always says, "All you really have is your word. If your word ain't worth nothing, you ain't either." 

Years ago, I determined to keep my promise to Sam, and I have, but it's been hard. 

There were times when I couldn't see how I would stretch my money to take care of my needs and Sam's. When he was no longer able to do the farm work, it would have been easier to hire someone else and let Sam and Jamie go to a nursing home or government housing. I learned to do the work myself, as best I could, and kept my promise to that fine man and his wife. God has provided for all of us.

People have said, "You can't keep doing this." My response has been, "I gave my word." 

I didn't understand what giving my word meant at the time, but I've learned over the years. This past week, one of her doctors asked me about why I've been by their side when I'm not related to them. "I gave my word in 1989 to provide for them, and I'm sticking to it." His response made me cry. "That's just like it was in the old days. People never do that anymore." Don't get me wrong here. He didn't recommend breaking your word. He was just astonished to see it in action.

I haven't done anything special at all. I'm not a saint. I'm not perfect at keeping my word. I haven't always liked this promise of mine. Fulfilling my word has been hard, and I don't pretend it hasn't been. I've wept a river of tears over the years about the price I've paid to provide for people who once were strangers. In the process, though, the strangers have become family and I've learned about love, and responsibility, and faithfulness. 

Being a man or woman of our word is rare in this "me" society of entitlement in which we live, but it is still the right thing to do. It will still change your life. It brings more blessings than you can imagine. 

It is worth it. 

I've simply done what I would want someone to do for me. 

You see, I serve a God who has been faithful. Who will always be faithful to me. When He said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," He meant it, and He still does. He's a God of His word and, if I am to be like Him, I'm to be a woman of my word, too. Even when it costs me more than I want to pay. Even when it's hard. Even when it's rare.

Jamie's doctor surprised me. "God will bless you for this," he assured me. I smiled and told him what I finally learned along the way. "He already has." 

_________
Here's the links to the other stories in this series: The eternal destination, The Vigil, and A Little Help from My Friends. 

#faithful #keptmypromise #goldenrule #dountoothers

Extending Mercy

Woe unto you! for ye are as the tombs which appear not, and the men that walk over them know it not. And one of the lawyers answering saith unto him, Teacher, in saying this thou reproachest us also. And he said, Woe unto you lawyers also! for ye load men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them. So ye are witnesses and consent unto the works of your fathers: for they killed them, and ye build their tombs. (Luke 11:44-48 ASV)

Jesus spoke to the lawyers concerning their failings, as well as to the Pharisees. Remember that "woe" basically means "you should be ashamed of yourself". The "lawyers" were the scribes. They studied the law in depth and taught it to the people The problem for which Jesus reproved them was that they added man's tradition to God's law and made following the law more burdensome than God intended. 

What they taught the people was "grievous to be borne" but the lawyers (or scribes) didn't bother to follow it. They had an appearance of piety, but, in private, they did whatever they wanted. They were not only false teachers but also hypocrites, for they tried to hold people to a standard they could not attain. They didn't even attempt to rise to the standard they had set. 

My grandmother used to say, "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." She had a variety of uses for that phrase, but she mostly used it to indicate that, if others should do a thing, so should I. Good for one, good for all. 

So it is with discipleship. Right is always right. If Jesus says we are to live a certain way, then we all are supposed to live that way. The life of a disciple is, in some ways, much easier than we have been led to believe. If we choose our actions based on the Golden Rule, we have a good start on acting like Jesus. Treat others as you want them to treat you. 

One of the problems we have is that we only want to treat certain people as we want them to treat us. If I want mercy but try to administer justice to those around me instead, I have failed to love my neighbor as myself. 

Recently, I spoke to a young man who was paying a ticket for a seat belt violation. "He could have got me bad," he told me of the policeman who had stopped him. The policeman had seen the other violations but had chosen to mention them instead of pile up fines for the young man. When he realized the seat belt ticket would not go on his record, he was thrilled. "I'd have had to go to the big house (prison) if it did." Then, he told me what I didn't expect, "You don't have to worry about me any more. I never want to go to that big house ever again. I've learned my lesson. I'm not taking any more chances." He turned to his friend, who was with him. "Even my friends are buckling their seat belts when they ride with me now." His friend confirmed it.

The young man had been given mercy when a more severe citation would have been justified. It was the kind of grace I'd like to receive. The policeman had acted with mercy, and that's how I want to be, too. Will the seat belt offender break the law again? Maybe, but maybe not. I'm not called to predict the future, but to respond in the present. 

We have the opportunity to extend either mercy or judgment to all those we encounter. Let's choose mercy, every time. After all, if the choice is between justice or mercy, mercy is what I want given to me.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8 NIV)