Thinking about "kindness"!!!


It is in galatians 5, listed as one of the components of the 'fruit' of the Holy Spirit. I decided to read these things one by one again today (private time study), judging myself to see if I was trying to practice them. And then I stopped at 'kindness.' What exactly is kindness for goodness sakes? Is it letting people do what they wanna do, or letting people have what they wanna have from you? Is it allowing people to take advantage of you or somn? Is it always putting up a facade of happiness? Is it saying "yes" when you really mean "no"? Is it stripping yourself off everything you have and sacrificing it for other people? Considering all the above questions, after doing my research the answer was a big 'NO' to all of the above! You can make sacrifices, but kindness is also a "thinking phenomenon." It is not irrational at all.


There were certain things that stood out to me in the definitions of kindness I came across, and I picked the important ones to dwell on:


kind #1/kaɪnd/
(from dictionary.com)
–adjective, -er, -est.
indulgent, considerate, or helpful; humane (to be humane is to be tender, compassionate and to be sympathetic towards other people)

(from the american heritage dictionary)
Of a friendly, generous, or warm-hearted nature; forbearing (enduring, refraining, being patient and having self-control, tolerant); generous (liberal-kind words); Agreeable; beneficial

So one thing that stood out to me was "indulgent"...interesting word...and its funny that I hear a lot of people using this word, hope they know what it means...

in·dul·gent /ɪnˈdʌldʒənt/
–adjective
characterized by or showing indulgence (a catering to someone's mood or whim; humoring; Commerce-an extension, through favor, of time for payment or performance; Something granted as a favor or privilege; Patient attention; a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone) in·dul·gent·ly, adverb
—Synonyms forbearing, easygoing, tolerant
.

BUT...I also found out that indulgence could mean "foolish or senseless behavior," and that is not what the Bible means when it says be "kind"...

It's really good to try and understand what these things actually mean before we try to practice them...it makes one look at the inner picture...so what this basically tells me is that sometimes:

1) I need to learn how to humor people ("indulgence"). It is not necessarily every single thing one needs to point out to a friend, there's a way you can tell people things that they will appreciate you more for it, and they will probably thank you for letting them know sometime in the future...but what was that word again? Kindness is being liberal (kind with words)...the way you speak says much about you, and even the bible says, "let your words be seasoned with salt, so that it may impart grace on anyone who hears you speak." Do your words carry grace? Or are they rash, impotent, and non-beneficial?

2) I need to learn how to put people first before myself ("considerate"). Have you ever fought for the best positions? Have you ever fought to be number 1 all the time? Have you ever fought to always be the winner? It is good to be the winner, but do you carry the notion that is "me, myself, and I?" It's definitely time to start being considerate.

3) "Warm-hearted": I love warm-hearted people, you just want to be around them all the time because they make you feel better about everything. No one wants to be around a whiny, grudgy, non-talented person. Or do you? Kindness goes with warm-heartedness.

4) "Agreeable": I checked again for this word and it said, "willing or ready to agree or consent; conformable." I laughed...wait a second, do people always agree with you or disagree with you? Why don't they always agree with you? Have you ever really thought about that? Maybe there's something you're not doing or something you're not trying to be vulnerable to. Woah, this is telling me kindness is something that alludes us to VULNERABILITY...yikes...vulnerability is not such a bad thing after all...

5) Indulgence: what stood out to me was the fact that sometimes we have to give people an extension of favor, an extension of the time for people to repay you back, a second chance. This goes out to people who go around ridiculously threatening lives who haven't returned favors. That's something to think about. We may all have to start changing attitudes to make the world a friendlier place. When you show kindness, I notice that it is then that people would even want to repay you back...you don't have to chase them all around the whole city, just take a chill pill and give them more time...they will willingly come....or they would apologise and may do other favors for you. All in all, it just pays to have a little bit of indulgence.

3 comments:

Biodun said...

I love is post, great insight, I am loving ur blog!

Jennifer A. said...

yayyy...thanks Biodun...I'm trying to be work it like u do naw...ahn ahn...you go!

Daddy's Girl said...

Wow, this is deep... really got me thinking. I need to print out this post...