Kind On Purpose

 

I've been thinking a lot about kindness lately.  Maybe because the world seems a little crazy right now with so much uncertainty, conflict and division everywhere I look - and it's a BIG world.  Way bigger than I can fix.

If I change my perspective just a little from that great, big world to MY world, I find some hope.  My world is really very limited - it's the people and things within my reach at any given moment.... wherever I am.... whatever I'm doing.

There's another change in perspective that gives me even more hope.  It's not my job to fix every person and situation that crosses my path.  Instead, I try to focus on leaving things better than I found them.  As special as I'd like to think I am, God didn't make me the complete solution to every problem.  Shocking.  

There is one more important idea that I need to carry with me everywhere I go: most people are just like me - a little weighed down by what it takes to make it from one day to the next.... skinned knees and bruises in a broken world.  When I let this thought borough into my heart, it's a game changer.

So what?

When I start each day, I ask God to find ways to use me.  I ask Him to give me the wisdom to see those opportunities.  I ask Him for the strength and courage to dive in and be used.  It can be a scary prayer.  But it's less scary when I remember:

My world is pretty small

I only have to leave things better than I found them

Each person needs a spoonful of kindness

When I start the day with these things in my pocket, it's remarkable how many opportunities start popping up.  What's even more remarkable is how less daunting it is to take a step toward situations I would have just passed by.  

Pay for the person behind you at Starbucks - and ask the cashier to tell them "I hope this lifts your day a little".

Let the cashier know that you appreciate their work... smile and laugh a little.

Make dinner (or takeout) for a family member or neighbor  - especially when you know they could use a break.

Call (or send a card) a friend or loved one to let them know they aren't forgotten.

Meet a friend for conversation.

Honestly, it takes so very little to shine wherever you are.  It's not the grand, look at me gestures - it's the little things.  Let God nudge you.  What you'll discover is that if you start with small steps, soon you'll be running.

I'm letting Him nudge me - every day.  I'm thinking about being kind on purpose.... and hoping that when God needs me, I'll be there.

A Puny God

 

There is a scene near the end of the first Avengers movie - 

Loki (the villain) is attempting to take over the earth.  His effort is falling apart and he is confronted by Hulk in the Stark Tower penthouse.  In a last gasp of utter defiance, Loki declares "I am a God".  Hulk responds by grabbing Loki by the ankles and whipping him back and forth like a rag doll to the point that the concrete floor is actually shattered under the force of the blows and Loki lays there, defeated.  Hulk walks away and mutters "puny God".

This scene reminds me so much of myself - especially in the volatile times we find ourselves.  Life takes a turn I would never have seen coming and the Christian version of me declares (in utter defiance of the craziness going on around me) "I have a God".  The worldly version of me fixates on all the bad consequences, runs around and tries to fix things as though "I am a God".  These two versions of me somehow co-exist and at any given moment I have to be able to ask myself (and honestly answer) which version am I giving the world and especially those I say I love the most.  One version definitely looks more like Jesus than the other.

It's not easy... and I fail and fall far too often for someone who's been at this for 40 years.  Life has a way of tossing us around like rag dolls.  Something happens and we remember "I have a God" and maybe we pray.  We try to lay this thing down and let God have it... and then probably get busy trying to solve it ourselves as doubt and worry creep in (I am a God).  Like I said, it's not easy.  It's not easy to know when (or how) to completely release circumstances that create worry or fear or heartbreak or defeat or failure or anger.

Thankfully, I don't have to have the answer - I don't have to have perfect discernment over when to rest (letting go and letting God) and when to work (get up and do the right thing).  Even if I had the answer, I'm still going to get it wrong... a lot.

Here's something I do know:

There are consequences when I trade "I have a God" for "I am a God".  

Nothing that life throws my way gives me permission to stop loving the people around me.  Nothing going on in my life makes it okay for me to be unkind.  It's never okay for me to stand in the corner, arms crossed, toe tapping impatiently, waiting for you to come to your senses.  My inability to deal with circumstances doesn't make me the boss of you (as though being the boss of you will change the circumstances).  My weakness is not a free pass to be mean-spirited.  Jesus, hanging on the cross, asking God to forgive his persecutors reminds me just how true this is.

This begs the question - how do I know when I've crossed the line?  

I'm on pretty solid ground when I start with this - "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is Peace".  

Turmoil in my mind, my heart and my relationships tells me that I've wandered from "I have a God" and into "I am a God".   

"I have a God" brings Peace.  

"I am a God" all too often brings turmoil.   

Life will grab me by the ankles and slam me around like a rag-doll and remind me...  

I'm a puny God. 

But I don't have to stay in the crater of my own crash landing because...

"I have a God"

And that's the version of me I want you to see - even when my world is upside down.

Heartbroken?

if you live long enough, you will have time to imagine how the story of your life will unfold.  given time, you can insert future chapters that reflect your deepest heart's desires.  in quiet moments, you can read ahead and the story you've written warms your heart.  there, in those chapters yet to come, your heart is laid bare.

if you live long enough, you will have time for life to lay waste to more than one of those imagined chapters.  the messiness of life steps in and gives no consideration to the vulnerability of a heart completely invested in a future that simply will not come to pass.

heartbroken.

your heart breaks because it was tied to something breakable.  imagined chapter 17 has been shredded and that part of your heart is fractured - and fear seizes the moment.  the realization that you have less control than you thought can leave you frustrated, angry...  paralyzed.  fear finds it's surest footing in the cracks of a broken heart - a heart too tied to breakable things.

hope for a broken heart...

God makes this easy for us - but we seem to insist on complicating things.  here is hope - wrap your heart in the unshakable promises of God.

• God is Creator
• God is Sovereign
• God is Faithful
• God is for you

life will constantly present storms that seem hopeless.  waves will crash over you.  chapters will be written and re-written without your consent.  tears will fall.

but...

a heart wrapped in the certainty of the promises of God will always find it's way to hope.  a heart invested in God will see tomorrow's victory through the haze of today's trials.  we live in a fallen world and there is no avoiding the sting of disappointment... grief... loss...  we are never without hope and help...  

God is the God of the heartbroken.  

God is the great physician.  

God is our wounded healer.