Sixty-one Days of Kindness
Eugenia A. Gamble
I recently heard some statistics that indicated that the number one longing of the people surveyed was for a return to kindness. It seems that unkindness, whether personal or in public life, is a key indicator for depression in young people. I expect that is true for all people. The scriptures list kindness as a fruit of the Spirit and as an attribute of disciples. Loving Kindness is often given as a defining attribute of God. As those created in God’s image and called upon to mirror that image in all that we do, perhaps this moment calls us into a season of exploring and nurturing kindness. The kindness to which we are called is not so simple as just not being mean when we could do so or it would seem justified. Spirit empowered kindness is deeper than that. It is transformational, takes place in the soul and then expands to others. The little congregation that I mentor decided this year to take on the challenge of kindness and share it with the community. In addition to daily meditations of kindness, they have gone public. They set up kindness tables at the farmer’s market and in the town center where they invite people to stop and share an experience of kindness. The people have the opportunity to fill in a gratitude for kindness card with their story of kindness. These cards can be anonymous if desired. With permission our leaders take the cards and add the stories of kindness to our website and to their daily prayers. It is proving empowering and has initiated new friendships and positive feelings in the whole community. Scientists tell us that it takes, on average, sixty days for a new habit to become automatic, so these sixty days, hopefully, will just be a start of a new lifelong habit of kindness!
Enjoy! Eugenia