"The fruit of the Spirit is. . .kindness."
(Gal. 5:22)
Yesterday, I was really kind.
I sang happy Scripture songs with wiggly kids before Sunday school, I provided fall-themed cupcakes for my husband's communicant's class, I gave homemade goodies as thank-yous to women who had helped me last week, I spoke to church visitors and those sitting on the edges.
Then, I bustled home and welcomed people for lunch. I ladled comforting soup into bowls, I refilled glasses with Southern sweet tea, I brewed coffee and sliced pies.
In the evening, I headed back to church, greeted people ditto, and--to top it all off--managed to produce from the depths of my minivan the necessary set of battery jumper cables for a family stuck in the church parking lot.
Oh, I was really kind all right.
Until.
Until my own child, lying in his bed at 8:23PM called, "Mommy, can I have a drink?"
And my answer makes a liar out of all that went before: "Go. To. Sleep."
The woman who had cheerfully filled countless glasses of water was done for the day. No water for you, kid. Tough luck.
How unlike my Savior. Our Lord has many kindnesses which he gives to everyone ("who sends rain on the just and the unjust" Matt. 5:45) but His greatest kindnesses are poured out on his family--his beloved children ("when the goodness and loving kindness of our Savior appeared, he saved us" Tit. 3:4-5). My Savior doesn't run out of kindness for his children. He saves it up and displays it to them with greater fullness than all his other kindnesses combined.
Pray for the pastor's wife, that--particularly in this rush-rush season of kindness and generosity and hospitality--she would draw from the kindness of the Lord to be kind to those who are nearest her. Pray that she would have compassion for the "least of these" (Matt. 25:40), not first as some abstract group of people, but as particular people: Children. Husbands. Siblings. Parents.
Pray that, pitcher in hand, she will have ready a cup of kindness. Even at bedtime.
Also in this series:
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Goodness
Faithfulness
Brief, to the point, and oh-so-true.....we can be most unkind to those closest to us when we feel we have nothing left to give. Thank you again for a great reminder that we can continue to give when we let Him do it through us. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. Glad it was an encouragement.
DeleteDid you think of all this at the time or afterward? Did your kid get the drink?
ReplyDeleteHa! I was wondering about the drink, too! :) I have been praying about this lately, especially as the holidays are here and time gets stretched as far as it can go and sleep is less and less for everyone. Patience and kindness go hand in hand, I think. I appreciated these two posts back to back.
ReplyDelete