Shaping our lives with kindness

Dr Iain Jamieson June 17, 2022 0 3

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Job 6: 14-30 (NRSVA)

14 ‘Those who withhold kindness from a friend
    forsake the fear of the Almighty.
15 My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed,
    like freshets that pass away,
16 that run dark with ice,
    turbid with melting snow.
17 In time of heat they disappear;
    when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18 The caravans turn aside from their course;
    they go up into the waste, and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema look,
    the travellers of Sheba hope.
20 They are disappointed because they were confident;
    they come there and are confounded.
21 Such you have now become to me;
    you see my calamity, and are afraid.
22 Have I said, “Make me a gift”?
    Or, “From your wealth offer a bribe for me”?
23 Or, “Save me from an opponent’s hand”?
    Or, “Ransom me from the hand of oppressors”?

24 ‘Teach me, and I will be silent;
    make me understand how I have gone wrong.
25 How forceful are honest words!
    But your reproof, what does it reprove?
26 Do you think that you can reprove words,
    as if the speech of the desperate were wind?
27 You would even cast lots over the orphan,
    and bargain over your friend.

28 ‘But now, be pleased to look at me;
    for I will not lie to your face.
29 Turn, I pray, let no wrong be done.
    Turn now, my vindication is at stake.
30 Is there any wrong on my tongue?
    Cannot my taste discern calamity?

We live in interesting times don’t we?

I have, for my sins (but also because its expected of me) a social media presence. In truth I don’t post much. I do read a lot.

Most of it breaks my heart. From anonymous trolls judging people they barely know to crowds of people piling in with opinions formed from the flimsiest of information. What I often see is the ever readiness to be offended, to judge, to tell yourself in the judging that somehow you would never do what that person has done or see things as they see them.

All of it just lacks kindness. Kindness I think is a gift of the Spirit but, as social animals it’s also literally built into our DNA. It seems the overarching desire to be part of some or other group, or to reassure yourself how right you are compared with someone else trumps our essential kind and co-operative selves. That’s tragic.

I rarely comment on things I see online, or even very much on the decisions others take around and about me. If I did, I would hope I would be kind.

You see the truth is we don’t know ( we CAN’T know) why some people do what they do, their motivations, stresses and strains. Perhaps it’s best to assume the best in them, to try ask them to explain where we don’t understand and with kindness at the very forefront of our minds perhaps offer a different view.

Anything else is to be unkind.

I can’t imagine Jesus ever being unkind.

I have been so very grateful for the kindness of friends and strangers throughout my life and throughout the last few interesting years. It has been the fuel that has kept me going and the light that has helped me see.

There’s so much we can’t do for others, but there’s one thing we can – be kind. Be kind.

PRAYER:

Father

You have been so very kind to me

Now let me be kind to all around me

So that they become as blessed as me

So that my eyes are filled with kindness for others and let kindness be all I see.