KINDNESS<\/p>\n
A Washington Post reporter went on a mission to find and create more kindness in his world. He had observed that the news headlines and personal encounters were too frequently mean and mean-spirited. He said, \u201c I\u2019m thinking of teenage and grown-up bullies, the use of slurs and other hateful language. I\u2019m thinking of the driver who rushed into a parking spot I was backing into \u2014 and then flipped me the bird. Thanks, guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He goes on, \u201cBut life\u2019s not all about sourpusses and sour grapes. Not long ago, I was waiting in a long line at my favorite bakery, which makes some amazing scones. The delicious pile in the glass case dwindled quickly as those in the long line ahead of me snapped them up, until there was just one perfect beauty remaining \u2014 and one woman ahead of me. To my everlasting joy, she chose a croissant, so when I got to the counter I pointed to the last scone and declared, \u201cI\u2019ll take that.\u201d No sooner had I spoken than the fellow behind me cried out: \u201cHey, that\u2019s my scone! I\u2019ve been waiting in line for 20 minutes!\u201d Which he had been \u2014 behind me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI surprised both of us when I didn\u2019t respond with, \u201cSorry, it\u2019s mine!\u201d Instead, I countered: \u201cWould you like half?\u201d After a moment of shocked silence, he accepted my offer and one-upped my spontaneous act of generosity. \u201cWhy don\u2019t I buy another pastry and we can share both?\u201d We then sat down on a nearby bench to break bread. While it turned out we had almost nothing in common \u2014 from our jobs, ages, political views or marital status \u2014 we\u2019d shared a moment of connection and a simple kindness. I felt happy and, frankly, wanted more of that feeling.<\/p>\n
Have you ever noticed how much of Jesus’ life was spent in doing kind things–in performing simple acts of kindness? Wherever he went, he tried to lift the pain and sorrow of people he met.<\/p>\n
William James, the distinguished American philosopher and psychologist wrote a letter to his young nephew. \u201cThere are three important things to do in life,\u201d he wrote. \u201cFirst, be kind.
\nSecond, be kind, third, be kind."<\/p>\n
Kindness–how much the world needs it. How spontaneously it acts. How easily it is done. How infallibly it is remembered.<\/p>\n
I like what Emily Dickinson said about kindness:<\/p>\n
If I can keep one heart from breaking KINDNESS A Washington Post reporter went on a mission to find and create more kindness in his world. He had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-e-votional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peoriapresbyterianchurch.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI shall not live in vain
\nIf I can ease one heart its aching
\nOr cool one pain
\nOr place one fallen robin
\nBack in its nest again
\nI shall not live in vain.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"