"I Wish You Kindness"

Devotional by Anne Remington

Perhaps there are some people who feel they have never been loved. However, I suspect that everyone of us has experienced kindness; knows what kindness is. In that knowing, we have the ability to pass it on. A part of love is kindness. We do not have to love someone in order to be kind. We may even hate a person or that person may hate us. And yet, we can still be kind. Kindness can help to unravel hate. (That reminds me of a quote by Abraham Lincoln, “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?”) There are people we disagree with, people who look different or are different from us. We can still be kind. Kindness may not undo our differences, but it can help us see people in a different light, help us to realize we don’t all have to be the same, that in being different we can learn, grow, and mature together.

This being kind, I believe, is best when it begins within ourselves, with the acceptance that we are not perfect, that each of us is often in need of understanding, appreciation, forgiveness — in need of kindness. Our kindness to others can be a reaction to our own needs, to our own desires, and even to our own suffering. What’s beautiful about kindness — and other such actions — is that it echos.

When we practice kindness, it reflects not just from others but from within ourselves. It is one of those actions — the more we do the more we want to do. For these reasons I wish you kindness. As you pass it along, I hope you feel it reverberating within you.

May we pray: Our loving Creator — May we feel your love, recognize the importance of passing along your kindness. In the light of your love and kindness, help us to grow and mature together. Amen.