My friend’s father-in-law recently died. It came on suddenly. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way. They weren’t prepared. I wonder, when it comes to losing someone we love, if we’re ever really prepared.
The hole that’s left while we are mourning seems like an endless chasm, and yet it’s the perfect size for kindness. Kindness shown through phone calls, flowers, ... Read More
I cut the head off a fish the other day. My fingers still smell kind of peculiar.
I wouldn’t exactly call butchering a helpless, flopping fish my kindest act ever, but I had a good reason.
We wanted to eat it.
Last December, Saul and I bought a sad little lake cabin. It desperately wanted to be brought back to life, so little ... Read More
I’ve never been described as a gentle person. At least not to my face, and I’m not sure that’s one of the words that comes up behind my back.
Bold. Direct. Bossy. Brave. Maybe even energetic.
But gentle? No.
We are in the process of memorizing a weekly verse together. Actually it’s a paragraph I’m breaking into verses because my brain likes bite-sized ... Read More
They say what goes around comes around. If you consistently treat others with kindness, you can expect to have a pretty big kindness bank account to draw from when life throws you a curveball.
I’ve seen it happen again and again in my own life, and so has Mary Derosier from Red Lake Falls, Minn., although she and her mom were ... Read More
Gosh. I’m a little ashamed of myself.
I try to keep an open mind and greet others with love and kindness, but it’s been brought to my attention that I have a great big judgement sticker hanging out inside my head.
I’m sure in some ways we all do, because we’re all raised with beliefs that we truly believe. Even if no ... Read More
Have you ever had deja vu? You immediately know you’ve heard those words before… but where?
That happened to me when I stumbled upon this page:
It’s from Philippians 4:4-9, in the New Testament.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious ... Read More
Walt Disney once said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”
That works well for amusement parks, but it also works well in the realm of kindness.
Alicia Stewart is a mom who feels frustrated with the way girls sometimes treat each other. When she saw it happening in her daughter’s second-grade classroom, she decided to put ... Read More
Sometimes I look at a beautiful piece of art and think, How did they do that? How did they create something so emotional from a flat piece of paper and a few shades of blue?
Or I’ll stand in the shadow of a building that was constructed hundreds of years ago and wonder, How did they get those heavy bricks way ... Read More
I remember being 16 years old and begging my dad to let me drive two hours away to a party on a college campus with a guy friend that I went to high school with. It was the beginning of my junior year.
Guess what my dad said?
No way.
Period.
I stood in the living room and loudly debated my case with tears ... Read More
I really should have kept a list of all the people who helped me during my battle with breast cancer. It would be filled with the names of family and friends who delivered meals and picked up kids and sent cards.
But it would also be filled with the names of strangers who helped me get through each day after my ... Read More
