Micah 6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

This is one of my favorite Bible passages.  It is a popular passage that we probably all know by heart.  I read it and began thinking how can we be kind to everyone we meet?  Most of the time it is easy to be kind to people that we like or people that are kind to us, but to really love kindness we need to be kind to everyone.  We are called to show kindness to strangers, enemies, those who are in need, those who are like us and those who are not. What does kindness look like in our everyday lives?

I experienced someone’s kindness in May this year at the grocery store.  It was a Saturday afternoon, it was hot, Madeline was tired, and I believe everyone in town was at the grocery store.  I was trying to get Madeline in the shopping cart and she just wasn’t having it. She was fussing and it was taking a long time just to get into the store to start the shopping trip.  People were in a hurry and they were trying to get around us, but I finally got Madeline in the cart. As soon as I did I felt a woman tap me on the shoulder. She said “here this is for you” and gave me a bag with bath salts and essential oils.  She walked away and never said anything else to me. The bath salts were for relaxing and I guess she could tell I was having a stressful day. Her simple gift made my day a little brighter.

She was spreading kindness to strangers in a grocery store.  We can share a little kindness wherever we go too. Sometimes a simple kind word, a gesture like holding the door open or helping someone carry their stuff, buying someone a drink, or just acknowledging another is enough to brighten someone’s day.  Let us love kindness and spread it wherever we go.

Rev. Melissa