“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.  Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”  Ephesians 4:31-32

My earliest memory is blurry and haphazard, but a happy one. It’s me running. I feel strangely off balance, moving forward pell-mell across a shaggy carpet. I know I can’t stop. Why am I doing this? My torso moves forward but my feet are getting farther and farther behind me. I begin to feel that my face will be going downward soon. Then I feel it. The gold brocade feels rough on my cheek and my nose sinks straight into a couch cushion. I hear a general exclamation in the room. Apparently, I had done something unexpected and new. My hands reach out and touch silky brown fur. So this was why I had taken my first toddling run. A puppy, of course! Luckily, someone thought it was a special moment and snapped a picture. There I am in a green woolen cardigan buttoned over plastic bottomed footie pajamas, smiling. A patient puppy sits with his chin on his paws. Thank goodness for the cushion. Otherwise, my journey would have ended in tears and no one takes a snapshot of that.

A couch cushion protected me as a toddler. It didn’t stop the progression of my problem but it softened the effect of my misjudged ability to run on shag carpet. Kindness is much like that cushion. It doesn't necessarily stop a problem but it softens the effect. It is no wonder that kindness is something God asks of us. It is perhaps, besides faith, and love of Him, the action He most exhorts us to. And wouldn’t you do the same? If you knew your children had to walk through a perilous world and suffer many things, wouldn’t you encourage them to be kind to one another? Especially, if you knew you could provide for their acts of generosity? 

As far back as Job, the book considered the oldest in the Scripture, we see this admonition,

“He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.” (Job 6:14)

And in Micah 6:8 God tells us plainly that kindness towards others is very important to Him. “He has told you, O man, 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?”

In most World War II movies, often you will see a medic running among the injured men, doing what he can and administering a dose of morphine to blunt their agony. This is what kindness does. We may be helpless to change our friends’ circumstances but we can mitigate pain. Our kindness can be a cushion over the barbed wire of their burdens. 

Jumping forward into the New Testament we see ourselves encouraged to be kind multiple times.

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Colossians 3:12-14)

My son Ben has befriended a sometimes-homeless man who hangs out near our house. Usually what the man needs is friendly conversation but because he can’t see very well he will often ask my son to read his mail to him. This morning Ben was running late and eating breakfast when this fellow called. He couldn’t find his hat. Could my son come to help him? I could tell Ben felt the time crunch, but he put down his breakfast and took the short trip to help this man find his lost hat. It only took a few minutes. But my son’s kindness gave him protection from the California sun for an entire day. It is wonderful to know that though we can't solve all our friends’ problems we can make them more bearable simply by being kind. 

Kindness cannot be overrated. It is the shield that softens the blows of life. It makes dark nights bearable, it is a company in times of tears, it builds up when words have been torn down, and can even make friends of enemies. 

And, hey, it can even prevent sunburns.