Kindness
Have you ever watched Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella?
The Broadway musical became a television special in the 1960's and a cherished memory from my childhood ever since. The story itself is timeless: boy meets girl; boy loses girl; boy finds girl once again to live happily ever after. The addition of a fairy godmother, magic pumpkins and glass slippers that had to be impossible to walk in brought drama and suspense to a tale whose ending was known to us all along. We didn't watch Cinderella to discover the ending, but to become a part of the story itself. For just when we think the Prince will not have a chance to try the glass slipper on his true love's foot, Cinderella's fairy godmother urges her to offer the Prince a cool dipper of water to refresh himself on his arduous travels. Against the protests of her stepmother and stepsisters, Cinderella offers the Prince a drink. He recognizes her, and they know they belong together.
Moral of the story: kindness extended can welcome miracles into our lives in the most unexpected of ways.
Have you ever heard the story of the traveler who was attacked and the man who helped him?
Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jerico, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then, he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend I will repay you when I come back.' Which of these do you think proved neighbor to the man who fell among thieves? He said, 'The one who showed mercy on him.' And Jesus said to him, 'Go and do the same (Luke 10: 29-37)."
Moral of the story: kindness extended becomes an example of mercy for others to follow and through which they may experience newness of life.
Some would say that fairy tales and scripture readings do not mix well as theological underpinnings on which to base our lives. I believe that God welcomes each of us to search out divine activity and reason wherever we may find it. In wise observations we also understand ourselves to be instruments of God's compassionate, loving action in the world. Kindness is perhaps one of the most important acts of faith we can perform in service to our fellow human beings.
Kindness is simple: friendly, gentle, benevolent, generous behavior toward another person. Think about that for a moment. Consider some of the opportunities through the day that you have to be friendly, gentle, benevolent or generous with another person in how you think about them, speak with them and act toward them. I'm not only asking you to ponder the nice people who cross your path, but also those with whom you don't feel completely comfortable and those whose response to you may not be anticipated as positive.
How difficult is it for you to offer a friendly, thoughtful attitude to a co-worker who rubs you the wrong way?
Is it possible for you to be gentle and considerate with a family member or an acquaintance who doesn't listen very well?
Can you generously share your pocket change with a street beggar?
Are you able to set aside your own agenda to benevolently direct or lead a visitor to your city to their destination?
Kindness is always an act of faith, an assurance of a hoped for outcome that will benefit someone else and increase our own belief in God's friendliness, generosity, benevolence and gentleness for us. Kindness extended stretches our faith, makes it bigger, more inclusive, whatever the response we get from the person to whom we have reached out. Being kind doesn't guarantee a fairy tale ending to the story, but simply includes us in God's story.
Reconsider our storybook heroine.
Cinderella should have been, by all rights, a miserable young woman. Her parents were dead and she was stranded in this household serving her rather selfish, rude stepfamily. At best she was taken for granted in all her efforts at cleaning and caring for these ungrateful people. At worst she faced a life of uncertainty and abuse at the hands of those who thought nothing of her. But somewhere in her heart she still found it possible to remain friendly, gentle, generous and benevolent as a way of life. That way led her to her future in one simple gesture of kindness.
Reconsider the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Jesus distinguished this man's behavior between that of the Jewish priest and the Levite because there was no love lost between Samaritans and Jews in Jesus' time. But still the Samaritan extended friendliness, gentleness, generosity and benevolence to a man he didn't know who would potentially never repay him. The Good Samaritan crossed cultural, religious, financial and personal security boundaries to help a stranger in a time of deeply-felt need.
Moral of the story: kindness moves us outside our usual ways of thinking and behaving to become one with God's story of love.
Practical Beauty
Decorating has always been a part of my life. My mother's subscription to Better Homes and Gardens rarely made it to her hands before mine. Especially during the summer months, when school didn't impede my camping out on our front steps until the mail carrier arrived, I relished each issue and all the magical ways it offered to imagine and manifest lovely, comfortable spaces. Even then, decorating for me was synonymous with inspired living. Creating a beautiful environment equaled shaping a room or a house into my own world, even if that world existed only in my own mind.
Today is no different, except that the subscription to BH and G is now in my name.
Memories of pouring over pages and pages of rooms filled with pretty fabrics, finely-crafted furniture and fresh flowers positioned just so on a fireplace mantle motivated me to rearrange my bedroom this past weekend. Ever since I moved in last summer I had pondered the next steps of how I would translate the room into its most wonderful state of being. Standing back and surveying part of my kingdom satisfies me immensely. Watching it unfold as I drag the furniture around the room, reposition prints and mirrors to align with the new arrangement and shift the accessories to new locations, dusting and vacuuming as I go, is about bringing out the best that each piece has to offer in relationship to all the others with which it is associated. Sometimes that means moving an object to another room or giving it away so someone else can enjoy it. While I am still about creating my own world it no longer exists only in my head, and I am very clear that I am about achieving harmony, balance and peace with whatever resources I have at my disposal.
I tend not to look at objects as only being beautiful unto themselves, but also in how they can be utilized in everyday living. My favorite things are those that create beauty in their practicality. Baskets that hang on the wall in my living room transform themselves into serving trays and Christmas ornament displays. Teapots on bookshelves can be plucked from their perches and placed on the table ready for brewing. Pillows resting on chairs and sofas provide visual texture and interest, but also feel really good against a tired back or under a weary, nap-ready head.
So it isn't about the dollar value of what I possess, but about the extravagant application of my creativity that means much more to me. I feel wealthy after I complete such an adventure, standing back to again survey my kingdom, knowing that inspiration is truly a God-given gift that can be applied anywhere we see fit to make the world a better place.
My next door neighbor knows inspiration is a gift in her work as an occupational therapist. Her job is to help people reclaim their bodies after such devastating occurrences as strokes and accidents. Even being able to help someone relearn how to move a finger makes her day. To achieve these goals she employs all the tools available to her: her education, training, dedication and most importantly, her faith. She talks about how her soul resonates with the souls of the people with whom she works. That resonance, God's spirit communicating between them, is what guides her to help her patients draw on their own strength to heal. Although not in her job description, she styled a patient's hair last week, giving the woman a whole new outlook on herself and the world. Three extra minutes of my neighbor's time made her patient feel beautiful again. From that moment of delight came a movement forward in her therapy on which she continues to build each day.
My guess is that home decor and occupational therapy are not linked in your mind as equal avenues to creating a better world. Perhaps you had an inkling that I had waded into the shallow end of the theological pool talking about decorating as a spiritual experience. Maybe you are not aware that whenever God's spirit is made tangible there is beauty to behold if you are willing to see it.
Jesus was certainly not above enjoying the beauty surrounding him or using beauty as a tool to expand people's understanding of where and how God resided in their world. He encouraged those willing to hear to let go of their anxiety and to, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow'; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these (Matthew 28-29)." From that observation I can only surmise that Jesus used beauty as a practical teaching tool and also saw beauty in people's souls. It is poetic to look beyond what others see and feel the depth of truth that lies within living beings, whether they be flowers, animals or women, children and men.
Have you ever wondered who you would have chosen as your disciples if you were in Jesus' place? It's endlessly fascinating to me how clearly Jesus could see through to the core of who he selected as his closest allies. He didn't choose these people based on standard hiring guidelines but on how their characters and gifts resonated with the work that needed to be done in that time and place. He chose them for the truth, the beauty of who they were and how they would apply themselves to the simple and complex practicalities of what was and what was to come. Whatever mistakes they made along the way, their one decision to follow Jesus set them on a path that would bring forth everything they had to offer.
We are no different, called as we are to give the best, the most beautiful parts of ourselves to whatever purpose we are here to serve. Beauty is often pushed aside in favor of the harsh realities of living that overwhelm us, even on our best days. But God did not separate out the beautiful from the practical in the process of creation, and God never told us to separate out the beautiful from the practical in our own process of creation. If either were true the sky would not provide such endless supplies of clouds and stars, and there would surely be no graceful variety in architecture or food. Homes could all look the same and food could be food. We would be housed and fed just the same.
Making the world a better place, a more beautiful place, is about perspective and action. There is great beauty in the truth of living because everything we create comes from God from whom all blessings flow. How that is made real, welcomed into the vast creation in which we live, is as individual as we are. How all that energy and abundance works together is how God continues to work among us engendering harmony, balance and peace as both simple and ample grace. We dance together as God's people, each giving to and receiving from one another all the gifts God has given us. Beautiful and practical, just like God.
