Choose Kindness

I’ve learned that justice and what’s fair is not for me to gauge by my own judgment. I’ve learned that when my heart aches for the big, scary causes that it should also ache enough to press me to be kind to the person who fundamentally disagrees with me.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again:

If you care about injustice on a grand scale, you must also care about how you treat others in the mundane, every day moments. The character, the nature of the heart is the same. It is hypocritical and inconsistent to claim a cause and be so ugly and nasty to your peers or family because they did something you don’t agree with.

I don’t know how to speak truth in love that well, but I do know how to shut my mouth. Most of the time that’s the best way I can show kindness. By shutting my mouth, by not sending that message, by taking a beat before I respond. By saying “I understand” and knowing in my ego that understanding does not equal agreement.

Shame, blame, assumptions and anger have never been good tools into transforming someone’s mind. Jesus does that. So maybe, maybe the answer to so much conflict and anguish is to be like Jesus. And maybe for you, for today and probably tomorrow, the best way you can show kindness is to be quiet and pray. Instead of shaking your fist harder and shouting louder. Take a quick scan, your tactics aren’t working.

And in my experience, prayer works every time. Prayer changes me. Prayer stops the tug of war of who is right and creates space for what is kind.