Proverbs 31:26 She openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
Oh my beautiful Friends in Christ, the word today is ‘Kindness.’ Yes, it’s the simple word that if really put into action, would create such an abundance of hope and happiness in our world that our God would bubble over with joy. But right now it’s sadly lacking in our daily dealings with each other, thus causing much of the tension and strife on planet earth. And the sad part is it doesn’t have to be a big, or go far out of our way kindness to have a noticeable impact, just basic decency in our everyday lives, treating each other the way we want to be treated. We’re talking about actions like a kind word, a genuine smile, a nod of the head in acknowledgement, a sincere thanks or sorry, holding a door open, letting the other person go before you in the checkout line, a hug, a heartfelt ‘morning neighbour,’ a blown kiss across a crowded room, a handshake, helping a disabled or older person, visiting the sick and lonely, a phone call just to say, hi, how yuh doing. Oh my people, that’s basically what Jesus meant when He talked about LOVING your neighbour. He didn’t mean that you have to LOVE all man-kind with that deep feeling, cause it’s just impossible, given the nature of the human animal, but it does mean we can show basic good manners and decency to all. Although the word manners and what it entails doesn’t seem to exist in our society any more. But the writer of Today’s Bit knew its importance when he claimed that a virtuous woman ‘openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.’ She is both wise and kind. That’s because wisdom shows us the dire need for kindness. Many of the old fogies will remember this quote of William Penn that was drilled into us as children, but sadly we have not done the same with our offspring. ‘I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now.’ Amen my people! That’s what Jesus desires of us; simple kindness NOW. He wants us to stop talking, to stop making idle promises to do, and instead do it right here and now, cause we just revel in procrastination. Oh Friends, as we said recently, one of the things that come not back is the lost opportunity, so let’s the make the most of those that come our way nuh. And kindness is like a boomerang; it always comes back to you in some way. It’s the same what you sow, you reap theory. My people, if we want to grow, to mature in the faith, become more like Christ, then we have to make it a habit of grabbing each opportunity that comes along and doing something constructive with it. Note that whenever an opportunity arose, Jesus dealt with it in a positive manner, right then and there. We should try to do likewise. And it doesn’t necessarily require great effort on our part; just simple LOVE will do. Whatever brings a smile to a sad face, lessens the pain of a hurting heart, or quiets the worms in a hungry stomach, those are the things Jesus wants us to concentrate on. The things that help us all live everyday life a little easier. A good example is two evenings ago, I decided to go for a walk around the block, but by the time I was ready, the sunny skies had turned to dark, ominous clouds and the rain began drizzling. But I just felt like a refreshing walk in the rain, plus a letter had been mistakenly delivered to my address because of the same house number. Now I could have easily thrown it back in the mailbox, but as I was passing right by the house, I decided to just drop it off instead. Wonder of wonders Friends, soon after delivering the letter to the slim, medium height, white gentleman, about my age, the rain really came down. So we stood on his porch talking for a bit, me obstinately refusing a ride back home. Next thing we’re sitting down on the porch. He invited me inside, but I declined, claiming I had stuff to go home and do. But it was two hours later I finally left, after we two old geezers had righted all the wrongs in the world. (smile) I still don’t know his name, and I doubt he knows mine, but we now know that we’re kindred spirits, because I did a small kindness. Now if we can do big deeds of kindness, then that’s wonderful, but we have to start with the little things, and those right in our own backyard, with our immediate friends, families and neighbours. It makes no sense going across town to do it, when it’s badly needed right at home. And it doesn’t always entail actually doing good, for sometimes simply cutting out the negative makes a great improvement. You’d be surprised how cutting out the gossiping, the petty hurts, jealousy and resentment can improve your life as well as others by lessening the strife and tension. Oh Friends, like one one cocoa fills a basket, and the pennies add up to dollars, so do all these little things add up and eventually improve our lives. Yuh know people, we constantly talk about God’s LOVING-kindness, but what about ours eh? As believers, others should be talking about our LOVING-kindness too. Are they? Oh Friends, remember that Jesus was a simple, down to earth man, who cared about the sick and suffering, the unfortunate and unhappy, the oppressed and suppressed. Those were the ones to whom He naturally gravitated. And we all know there’s an inordinate amount of sickness, suffering, unhappiness, oppression and suppression in our world, so we need to desperately ramp up our kindness meter and actively, consciously, reach out and help our unfortunate brothers and sisters in Christ. So Friends, I implore, beg, plead, beseech and exhort us to get up off our comfortable derrières and do some act of kindness today, NOW. Let’s warm the cockles of Jesus’ heart by showing the world what Christian LOVING-KINDNESS is really all about nuh. Much LOVE!…reach out and touch someone…today…make our world a better place…in Jesus’ name…Amen!
Oh my beautiful Friends in Christ, the word today is ‘Kindness.’ Yes, it’s the simple word that if really put into action, would create such an abundance of hope and happiness in our world that our God would bubble over with joy. But right now it’s sadly lacking in our daily dealings with each other, thus causing much of the tension and strife on planet earth. And the sad part is it doesn’t have to be a big, or go far out of our way kindness to have a noticeable impact, just basic decency in our everyday lives, treating each other the way we want to be treated. We’re talking about actions like a kind word, a genuine smile, a nod of the head in acknowledgement, a sincere thanks or sorry, holding a door open, letting the other person go before you in the checkout line, a hug, a heartfelt ‘morning neighbour,’ a blown kiss across a crowded room, a handshake, helping a disabled or older person, visiting the sick and lonely, a phone call just to say, hi, how yuh doing. Oh my people, that’s basically what Jesus meant when He talked about LOVING your neighbour. He didn’t mean that you have to LOVE all man-kind with that deep feeling, cause it’s just impossible, given the nature of the human animal, but it does mean we can show basic good manners and decency to all. Although the word manners and what it entails doesn’t seem to exist in our society any more. But the writer of Today’s Bit knew its importance when he claimed that a virtuous woman ‘openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.’ She is both wise and kind. That’s because wisdom shows us the dire need for kindness. Many of the old fogies will remember this quote of William Penn that was drilled into us as children, but sadly we have not done the same with our offspring. ‘I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow human being, let me do it now.’ Amen my people! That’s what Jesus desires of us; simple kindness NOW. He wants us to stop talking, to stop making idle promises to do, and instead do it right here and now, cause we just revel in procrastination. Oh Friends, as we said recently, one of the things that come not back is the lost opportunity, so let’s the make the most of those that come our way nuh. And kindness is like a boomerang; it always comes back to you in some way. It’s the same what you sow, you reap theory. My people, if we want to grow, to mature in the faith, become more like Christ, then we have to make it a habit of grabbing each opportunity that comes along and doing something constructive with it. Note that whenever an opportunity arose, Jesus dealt with it in a positive manner, right then and there. We should try to do likewise. And it doesn’t necessarily require great effort on our part; just simple LOVE will do. Whatever brings a smile to a sad face, lessens the pain of a hurting heart, or quiets the worms in a hungry stomach, those are the things Jesus wants us to concentrate on. The things that help us all live everyday life a little easier. A good example is two evenings ago, I decided to go for a walk around the block, but by the time I was ready, the sunny skies had turned to dark, ominous clouds and the rain began drizzling. But I just felt like a refreshing walk in the rain, plus a letter had been mistakenly delivered to my address because of the same house number. Now I could have easily thrown it back in the mailbox, but as I was passing right by the house, I decided to just drop it off instead. Wonder of wonders Friends, soon after delivering the letter to the slim, medium height, white gentleman, about my age, the rain really came down. So we stood on his porch talking for a bit, me obstinately refusing a ride back home. Next thing we’re sitting down on the porch. He invited me inside, but I declined, claiming I had stuff to go home and do. But it was two hours later I finally left, after we two old geezers had righted all the wrongs in the world. (smile) I still don’t know his name, and I doubt he knows mine, but we now know that we’re kindred spirits, because I did a small kindness. Now if we can do big deeds of kindness, then that’s wonderful, but we have to start with the little things, and those right in our own backyard, with our immediate friends, families and neighbours. It makes no sense going across town to do it, when it’s badly needed right at home. And it doesn’t always entail actually doing good, for sometimes simply cutting out the negative makes a great improvement. You’d be surprised how cutting out the gossiping, the petty hurts, jealousy and resentment can improve your life as well as others by lessening the strife and tension. Oh Friends, like one one cocoa fills a basket, and the pennies add up to dollars, so do all these little things add up and eventually improve our lives. Yuh know people, we constantly talk about God’s LOVING-kindness, but what about ours eh? As believers, others should be talking about our LOVING-kindness too. Are they? Oh Friends, remember that Jesus was a simple, down to earth man, who cared about the sick and suffering, the unfortunate and unhappy, the oppressed and suppressed. Those were the ones to whom He naturally gravitated. And we all know there’s an inordinate amount of sickness, suffering, unhappiness, oppression and suppression in our world, so we need to desperately ramp up our kindness meter and actively, consciously, reach out and help our unfortunate brothers and sisters in Christ. So Friends, I implore, beg, plead, beseech and exhort us to get up off our comfortable derrières and do some act of kindness today, NOW. Let’s warm the cockles of Jesus’ heart by showing the world what Christian LOVING-KINDNESS is really all about nuh. Much LOVE!…reach out and touch someone…today…make our world a better place…in Jesus’ name…Amen!
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