kindness and gratitude

Last night at our Frontline staff meeting this quote was shared.

"Be kind, for everyone is fighting a great battle"
- Philo of Alexandria

I have been thinking about kindness a lot lately, especially everytime my thoughts drift back to the 6 weeks that I spent in Zambia. Sue shared this with me,

"Mandy, it is always right to be kind."

There aren't too many people that would argue with that statement. Even if you dont' agree with someone, you can still be kind. The conversation I had with Sue stemed from various interactions we had with some Zambian students about how simply being nice (kind) to people is showing them Jesus. It was such a joy to be around these students because of the kindness that they sought to show the people around them, it was just part of who they were.

With thinking about kindness, I can't help but think about gratitude. I am grateful for so many things but do I take the time to express my gratitude? I ran across this article at desiringgod.org I just posted the first part of it, but the whole article is great!

Endings Are for Gratitude, Beginnings Are for Faith

The embrace may be only with the heart, or sometimes with physical arms, depending on proximity and the degree of the emotion. But in either case . . . Gratitude embraces a person with glad affections for past good-will aimed at helping us. and Faith embraces a person with glad affections for future promises aimed at helping us. Since every moment is the beginning of the rest of your life, and every moment is the end of the past, every moment should be governed by the glad affections of gratitude and faith.

Thank you John Piper.

Speaking of Piper, I am trying once again to read through Desiring God. It is my goal to finish the book sometime during 2008! So we'll see....

I will post again when spring comes....