Our #BeKind campaign concludes today. So you can stop being kind. Go back to envy, greed, anger, selfishness, or indifference. Or you can do something else. #DoKind. Doing kindness is a result of being kind. Being kind is who we are. Who we are shapes what we do. The kind person says kind words and does kind actions.
Being kind and doing kind is a lifelong journey. And the journey won’t be a perfectly straight, upward-trending line of progress. You will have great days, good days, and some days you wish you could do over again.
You will have moments, and hopefully seasons, where kindness defines you. You are able to see others through God’s eyes. You are emotionally healthy and spiritually growing. Doing kindness will be easy and natural.
You will have times when kindness is a challenge. Times when life is tough. Somebody will hurt you. You will go through a rough patch. God will seem distant. Doing kindness will be difficult and contrived.
Long-term growth is the goal with kindness. You can be a different person a week from now than you are today. You can be totally unrecognizable to your current self ten years from now. Character formation is how transformation happens. God wants to shape and form our character like a master potter to a lump of clay.
Kindness isn’t for the faint of heart. Kindness takes boldness and courage. Kindness takes a lot of humility too. But in the end, kindness is worth the effort and then some.
Our world is hurting. People don’t seem to get along too well these days. Stress and loneliness and busyness and distraction are words that define us. Trust is low. Anxiety is high.
Big pharma says more drugs are needed. Leadership gurus preach the necessity of influence and vision. Educators stress the need for more knowledge. Nothing against medication, leadership, and learning—they are all good things. But a culture has never existed in human history that is has been prescribed more medicine, hosted more seminars on leadership, and awarded more educational degrees. And we are becoming more stressed, lonely, busy, and distracted.
What the world needs is kindness. The world needs people like you and me to smuggle kindness wherever we find ourselves. Schools and sports fields. Parking lots and playgrounds. Businesses and bars. Houses of worship and houses where people live. To suspecting people and to unsuspecting people.
As I look back on nearly five decades of life, I have been happiest, most fulfilled, and most balanced when I could describe myself as kind. During those moments and seasons I have been able to pull it off, being kind has been a blessing to me and others. As I look back on nearly five decades of life, I have never once regretted doing kindness. I have regretted a lot of thoughts, words, and actions—but never kindness.
So #BeKind and #DoKind. Your world will be better. The world will be better too.
