Called to Kindness

Having a four-year-old in our house means that I am re-learning the basic building blocks of life. We repeat phrases about manners, habits, and caring for your body more often than I ever imagined I would in my life. One of the phrases that we say the most often is "practice kindness." It comes up in moments of emotion, or moments when we don't get our way. It comes up during interactions with friends and family.

I say "practice kindness" so much that the phrase has started to worm its way into my head when I also have big emotions or am trying to decide how to interact with others. I think about this phrase a lot too: how many times Christ has actively called us to care for others, or how often practicing kindness is so much harder than a fleeting moment of niceness. This little phrase that we adopted to help a four year old learn to navigate the world is helping to retrain me in the ways of Christ. By working on the building blocks of life with my son, I end up working on them in my own life. Practice kindness is an easy thing to say, but a harder thing to live out.

So beautifully, ironically, or all in God's good timing, the backpack tags that will be used for our backpack and back-to-school blessing for this year also say "be kind." Created by one of our children's literature resources, the printed reminder for all of us is something that we can carry throughout our days. This Sunday in our worship, as we bless the new year we will talk about why Jesus calls us all to be kind. It's a reminder for all of us, no matter our age. Let's all work on building ourselves in the ways of Christ!