Kindness matters

A few years ago I was searching in my husband’s sock drawer (I always steal his socks) when I found a thick white envelope with my son’s handwriting on the outside. I sat and started reading.

“Dad, you are my hero.”

Ryan penned these words the day Richard finished graduate school. The words revealed a young man who was not afraid to open his heart and let his dad see inside. There were three pages in that letter, words that Richard treasured as he read them.

Words he kept in his drawer so many years later.

[bctt tweet=”Kindness has a domino effect. One kind word leads to another. #ComeWithMe #livingfreetogether ” username=”suzanneeller”]

Kindness can have a domino effect. Reading the letter made me want to write a letter to my son.

I wanted to tell him that I remembered when he was a little boy and he offered drive-by kisses as he ran past, so energetic he barely had time to stop, but he did because he loved his mama. I wanted to tell him that when I was an exhausted mother to three toddlers, that his lopsided smile and Kermit the Frog belly laugh made me happy to be a mom.

 

 

Kindness matters.

Yesterday a friend of mine posted this on Facebook this week: “I’m no longer concerned about living a life that makes a difference. I just want to be kind.”

Because he is kind, he is living a life that makes a difference. 

What a concept, right?

One of the kindest things we can do is to tell someone what they mean to us, and yet we often leave precious words unsaid. Words with the power to heal. Words that share the way we feel. Words that become treasures one day when words are all that remain.

We might not share those words because we feel that they already know them.

Sometimes they don’t. 

We might not share them because others have rejected our kindness.

It’s not about what others do with your words, but the fact that you are willing to say them. 

 

“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Proverbs 18:21 (NIV)

 

We often talk about the negative words we should hold back. But what about the words that have the power of life?

On Day #4 of Living a Life of Thank You, the adventure is to speak words that heal.

Maybe you are unsure how to say them, especially if this is rare for you. Share the words in a note. Leave it somewhere unexpected like on a pillow, taped to a steering wheel, or in a favorite chair.

[bctt tweet=”When we speak words of life over others, we live a life that matters. #ComeWithMe #livingfreetogether ” username=”suzanneeller”]

Tell them something they do that makes you happy. Share a treasured memory, or a moment when they brightened your day.

Blaise Pascal once said, “Kind words do not cost much. They never blister the tongue or lips. They make other people good-natured. They also produce their own image on men’s (women’s, children’s) souls, and a beautiful image it is.”

When we begin to speak those words sincerely, they take root in the hearts of those receiving them. It might be a seed which will push up through fertile ground right before your eyes. It might be a seed that is planted, and the Holy Spirit waters it year after year until it takes root.

Speaking them has the power to change others, but it changes us first.

When we speak with kindness, we live a life that matters.

Suzie

Day #4 of Living a Life of Thank You

Dear Lord, scripture is filled with words that remind us of your love. Today use our words to affirm, encourage, lift up, and to say “I love you” to the treasured people you put in our lives. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

  • Choose to speak healing words throughout this entire day. Choose kind words. Don’t expect anything in return. Give them because you can. 

Q: Was this a challenge? Why or why not?

Q: Proverbs 18:21 says that the tongue has the power of life or death. What does that mean to you personally?

Q: “I only offer kind words when they are deserved.” Share your response to this statement.

Related Resources:

Read pages 131-133 in Come With Me: Discovering the Beauty of Following Where He Leads.

  • List at least two things for which you are thankful about a friend, loved one, or family member.
  • Call, write, or text that person and tell them. It doesn’t have to be lengthy. Use healing, kind words.

Listen to this word of encouragement for you today: