Joy in kindness

Most of us would never consider harming anyone physically, and yet, through the careless things we say we can cause an injury that is much deeper and longer lasting than the physical injury. Just as we can cause pain and suffering through what we say, we can bring joy by the power of the tongue.

Since saying kind words bring happiness to ourselves and others, we sometimes wonder why we don't do it more often. To speak kind thoughts we must treasure up good things in our hearts.

Kind words have a way of returning to us, often with dividends. By way of example a lady was helped and encouraged through a time of personal trial and discouragement by an elderly friend. Rather impulsively, the woman who was helped, wrote a brief note of appreciation expressing her love and gratitude.

Several years later, the elderly lady died rather suddenly. When the other lady visited the family to offer her condolences, they showed her a book of remembrance that had been kept faithfully by their mother. They turned to the back pages where the note of thanks mounted and next to it was written a personal expression of the joy the note had brought. Through such simple acts of love both the giver and the receiver are enriched.

The harsh difficulties and disappointments of life can be softened through the giving and receiving of expressions of kindness and love. Often a kind word expressed to or about a person, becomes a ray of sunshine piercing a darkness that we ourselves didn't know was there.

The best place for us to to begin expressing kindness is in our own home. We should watch for opportunities to praise each family member and friend, avoiding sarcasm, ridicule or embarrassing remarks.

As an unknown author so aptly put it -

"I've wept in the night
For shortness of sight
That to somebody's need made me blind;
But I never have yet
Felt a tinge of regret
For being a little too kind".

Sources : RS courses of study Author.