{"id":35857,"date":"2023-10-20T03:30:29","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T10:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=35857"},"modified":"2023-10-15T21:33:19","modified_gmt":"2023-10-16T04:33:19","slug":"october-20-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2023\/10\/20\/october-20-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"October 20, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kindness<\/strong><\/h2>\n

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones……kindness.” <\/em>Colossians 3:12,13<\/p>\n

There’s something missing in our world. It’s not completely gone, thankfully, but it is disappearing at an alarming rate. It’s kindness.\u00a0There are still lovely examples of it\u2014and, I have to say, I’m surrounded by it from family, friends, and neighbors.\u00a0I couldn’t have survived without the sweet kindness of those around me.\u00a0But not a day goes by that I don’t read\/hear stories of a lack of kindness.<\/p>\n

It often shows up in name calling, mocking, bullying, and slandering. It’s becoming so widespread that it is leading to an increase in suicides, especially among children and young adults. It’s heartbreaking!\u00a0It’s become so commonplace.\u00a0There doesn’t seem to be any shame in it.<\/p>\n

It’s not too many years ago when there was a movement for “random acts of kindness.”\u00a0You would hear daily examples of it, both large and small.\u00a0It was so encouraging.\u00a0I think we need to start doing that again.<\/p>\n

There are amazing benefits to kindness.\u00a0It lowers blood pressure, reduces pain, brings longer life, and produces happiness.\u00a0It can also lower stress.\u00a0In studies it has been shown that caring for others and being kind in various ways greatly reduces depression.\u00a0It’s a win-win situation for the giver and the receiver.\u00a0It can boost health and happiness in ways no medicine can.\u00a0Another study showed that engaging in acts of kindness for as little as three days produced increased joy and wellbeing in the giver.<\/p>\n

It doesn’t have to be a “great” thing. It can be as simple as opening a door for someone. Paying someone a compliment.\u00a0Leaving a thank you note for a mailman.\u00a0Letting a car in in traffic.\u00a0Overtipping a delivery person. Sending a note of encouragement to someone.\u00a0The possibilities are endless! And I think that once we set our hearts towards looking for ways to spread kindness, the Holy Spirit will show and guide us in specific ways.<\/p>\n

It doesn’t cost anything.\u00a0We don’t have to be rich. It often involves very little effort on our part.\u00a0Anyone, young and old, can participate. All we need to do is look for ways to be kind.\u00a0And I think it’s contagious.\u00a0Those we’ve blessed will probably bless others.\u00a0It’ll spread.\u00a0For every situation where I read\/hear of someone being mocked, slandered, or called an ugly name I try to think of a way to be kind to someone.\u00a0It’s a small effort, but if we all do that it’ll have a great effect.<\/p>\n

“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone”<\/em>\u00a0(Galatians 6:10).<\/p>\n

The Bible is packed with verses about being kind.\u00a0I’m sure, like me, you have examples of being on the receiving end of kindness.\u00a0It’s not completely gone, but we need a fresh revival of kindness in our world.\u00a0I hope we can lead out in it.<\/p>\n

Lord, we have received so many kindnesses from Your hand. May we extend our own hands of kindness whenever we can. Open our eyes to what is needed. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>

<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-9kl","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35858,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35857\/revisions\/35858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}