For the Love of God, People.....Be Kind

I have to say this and it pisses me off. And it makes me sad. But other Christians embarrass me.

I am a Christian. I love Jesus. I really, really do. And by His grace (especially as evidenced in these last few years), I know that He loves me. But some people.....

My family and I were in a restaurant the other night and I saw another family at a nearby table be rude to their server. The poor girl was obviously moving as quickly as she could, but somehow their needs were greater than anyone else's at that moment. After they oh so unkindly reminded her that they needed extra lime for their beer, they all bowed their heads to pray.

Sometimes I wish I had the nerve to approach people, tap them on the shoulder, and say "Yeah, hi....don't be an asshole.".... I realize that I just used that word in the same post with "Jesus"....don't worry about it. The people who will condemn me for this are the same ones who think it's okay to embarrass a child in front of his classmates when a kind word of correction off to the side would have been all that was needed. Or speak condescendingly to a stranger while praising God on Facebook. Or judge a single mom when they don't know her story of grace, nevermind that it's none of their business anyway. Or pass along gossip by way of "prayer requests."

Stop it. Just stop it. I think if we would just stop and take a good, long, hard and truthful look at ourselves, we would see that what we really need is kindness. We want that for ourselves, but we can't expect it from others if we don't practice it. I believe that everyone has some sort of great wound. It might be one huge tragic event, or it might be a collection of little wrongs that were never made right, piled up over the days and weeks and months and years. Either way, there is a great need for each of us to know that we are loved.

Think about your actions. Think about the words you speak to and about other people. Think about how these things reflect upon you.

There's a quote out there and I can't remember it exactly but it speaks about how people will forget what you said and forget what you did but they will never forget how you made them feel. It's so true. There are people I dislike to this day because I remember how they made me feel in elementary school. That's for me to get past (...Hi, I'm 34), but I hope that people will remember me as kind....and if they can't remember me as kind then I hope they just remember me as quiet.