Am I Kind or Just Nice?
Is there a difference?
Have you ever encountered someone whose kindness seemed to transcend mere pleasantries, leaving you feeling uplifted long after the interaction ended? What if I told you that each of us possesses the incredible power to pass on this spiritual gift to others, shaping not only their day but potentially their entire worldview?
Well, I recently went on a pretty long road trip and generally, I’m a pretty good eater, so when I go on road trips, I give myself full permission to eat however much junk I possibly can.
So anyway, I stopped at McDonald’s to get one of those egg mcmuffins that they like to cram between two pancakes I know you know what I’m talking about but anyway, the lady there was just the most genuinely kind and friendly blast of warm sunshine I think I ever got in my life.
She kept calling me love and she was like, You want the breakfast bundle, love? I’m like, yeah, sure, she’s like, you want the two-for-one love? I’m like, yeah, sure, she’s like, you want the five-for-five munch bag? I’m like, yeah, why not?
Now I’m one of those guys who judges food by weight; the heavier the bag, the better. By the time she was done with me, I had about an 80-pound bag of food that I spent about $6.49 on.
Now, the point of this is not my wonderful road trip eating habits; the point is that this lady gave me something. I’m not talking about the food; I’m talking about her kindness.
It's like she passed something on to me—something spiritual—and it changed me; it made my day my week, and here I am now trying to pass it on to you. I know this isn't rocket science or really anything new, but the thing to think about is that we each have this incredible power to pass on these spiritual gifts to one another, but unfortunately they can go both ways, so I can pass on goodness, lightness, and joy, or I can pass on my heaviness, darkness, and negativity, or what I think is really sad is that sometimes we can just go through life and pass on nothing at all.
I remember when I was leaving that lady, I was thinking, I wish I had that. I just don’t have that cheerful disposition.
Well, kindness is not about just putting on some cheeriness; that’s niceness, and niceness can be faked. It’s usually about manners and etiquette and I can be really nice to you and really care less about you.
But kindness is authentic; it’s real; it can’t be faked because it comes from the heart so my kindness doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s.
We each have our own very unique brand of kindness. We just have to find it. Kindness is simply about passing on a little bit of myself and my heart to the next person I see, and we can all do that.
Jesus said whatever’s in our hearts is going to come overflowing through our mouths, so if you struggle with kindness as I do, then the first place to look is what’s going on in our hearts.
Is it a warm, peaceful place, or is it cold, hard, cynical, agitated, and irritable, or worse, is it just all about me?
If we lean a little more towards b or c, then chances are we could be a nice person but not a very kind one, so how do we become more kind?
Well, first, we have to change our hearts. how? For those of us who are Christians, we have to stay close to the source, the heart of all kindness, and then just ask him to replace my heart with your heart. If we’re sincere about it, he’ll do it over time, and just on the side here, if our walk in faith has not made us more kind, then we’re missing something.
And for those of us who still may be on the fence, well, just ask yourself: if there is a God and if God has a heart, what do I think that heart looks like, and then would I want my heart to look more like that heart?
Finally, a simple thing we can all do is just picture ourselves in the shoes of the person we’re struggling to be kind to and then just put them in your shoes and treat yourself however you want to be treated.
It's a little cliche, I know, but it works. I read more than once that most of the happiness and sadness in the entire world is caused by how we treat one another.
I also read that heaven is filled with those who’ve been kind to others.
Well, that’s obvious but more importantly, heaven is filled with those who’ve had even a tiny little bit of kindness done to them.
Think of the power of kindness. So after all that, my very simple thought and image to you is: Is this the next person I see today? No matter who it is, just ask yourself what it is that I’m passing on to them.
Feel free to let me know what you think about this article in the comments, and make sure you give it all your claps and subscribe to my newsletter if you haven’t already to stay up-to-date with my articles.