DAILY DEVOTIONAL
June 9 — Kindness, the small act
A spoken reading of this is being recorded — it will appear here soon.
June 9 — Kindness, the Small Act
"Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?" — Romans 2:4 (KJV)
Paul writes a stunning sentence: God's kindness is what turns us. Not His thunder. Not His severity. His kindness.
That should reorder our imagination of how change happens in a home. We often think we will change our children, or our spouse, or ourselves, by being firm enough — by raising the volume, by stating the principle once more, by tightening the rule. Sometimes those things matter. They are not what turns a heart. Kindness is what turns a heart.
Kindness in a household tends to be small. A note left on a packed lunch. A glass of water set down without being asked. The first hello in the morning that does not carry yesterday's frustration. The quiet decision not to bring up the small failure of last week. These are tiny actions that do not make the day's highlight reel. They do form a person, slowly, the way water forms a stone.
The platforms we use will not reward this kind of kindness. There is no metric on a phone for the time you didn't reach for it because someone was sitting next to you. There is no notification when you chose to be a few minutes slower so the child could finish telling you the story. That is fine. The fruit Paul names is not measured by the platforms. It is measured by the Spirit, and He sees.
Today's practice: one small kind thing for someone in your house, done without commentary. Then forget you did it.
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." — Ephesians 4:32 (KJV)
May the Lord bless you and keep you.