by Kari Stewart on February 17, 2025
Kindness begets kindness. When one sees or receives an act of kindness, does it cause kindness to grow?
Recently I have been having conversations with people about kindness. What is kindness to them, how do they feel when someone displays kindness to them, and how do they respond.
The overwhelming response has been that an act of kindness “lightens their load”. Immediately my mind goes to Galatians 6:2 that states: Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.
When asked what the acts of kindness were, I heard the following responses:
- That someone assisted them in doing something they couldn’t do
- They received a kind word
- Someone motioned for them to go ahead of them in line
- A smile and eye contact made with another person
- A head nod from a fellow mom seeing her child melt down at the store was a reassuring, much needed “air hug” that she was seen by another mom, not judged
- A door held open for them
The correlation I see in each one of these is that the recipient of the act of kindness felt seen. Pastor Dick Foth likes to call this posture of being with people “There You Are” instead of “Here I Am”.
What would it look like for us to adopt this posture in our daily lives? If our mind, heart, and eyes hold the posture of “There You Are” as we enter a store, a meeting, a party, or anywhere people are – how different a lens we will be looking through as we “see” those around us. How differently we will respond and engage in conversation with them.
Kindness is both simple and grand. Simple in that it doesn’t take much time to be kind, and grand as it can totally change the day of the person that we are kind to.
Recently my son and I experienced a beautiful act of kindness through time and service. I was assisting my son fill out the paperwork that he needed to submit to receive much needed assistance. I didn’t know the process and made an appointment to meet with someone who could walk us through the steps. Immediately she made my son, and I feel comfortable, she was kind with her questions and genuinely cared about what we were experiencing. She submitted the documents needed and made what seemed difficult, easy. She lightened our load that day.
Kindness is contagious! One person showing kindness can cause a ripple effect that likely cannot measure this side of eternity.
Immediately after receiving assistance in filling out the documents, we needed, I watched my son then help someone navigate an app on their phone to pay for their parking. It was a simple act of kindness, but this woman was beaming because she couldn’t figure out how to work the app and was so grateful for the assistance. We did not follow this woman, but I imagine that this act of kindness followed her to her appointment with a lightened load that she didn’t have to worry about her car getting towed.
As we approach National Kindness Day, we will have “Kindness Cards” available for you to pick up during weekend services at all of our campuses. These cards are meant to be a simple acknowledgment that the person before you is “seen” and “appreciated” by you.
I need to remind myself that each person that I work with or come into contact with is carrying a bucket. And in the bucket they carry many things: shiny, smooth gems that resemble the good things in their lives, gray, rough rocks that reflect the hard and sometimes very painful things that they carry, and a lot of times there is gooey green slime mixed up in all of it, as our lives can be sticky sometimes.
I am sure that each card distributed by your kind face will “lighten the load” that you have no idea the recipient is carrying.
So, let’s walk out the verse stated earlier: “Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ”. Galatians 6:2 by carrying these cards with us and watching for who we can give them to!!
There You Are!
