Do you ever get the feeling what you say, what you do, doesn’t really matter?
We go through our day to day lives, interacting with a variety of people, sometimes consciously, sometimes not even aware of who and how we’ve done so. From the time we wake in the morning, until we lay our heads on our pillows at night, we have had the opportunity to impact quite a number of people.
If you are blessed with someone to share your life with, you see them in the morning first thing. How do we greet each other? Is it positive, hopeful, uplifting? Or is our exchange possibly with a neutral or negative connotation? Maybe we’re answering an email or text, how does that go for us? Do we give thought to how the person we’re responding to will receive our message? Do we want to make that person feel as if they are important to us and others by what we say or write?
I live in a small condo building, only 9 units in the whole place. Interaction between the residents is minimal. Maybe, by chance, we might see one another in the parking garage, in the elevator, or on the stairs. More than likely though, we will miss each other in our comings and goings. Just this week already, I have had the opportunity to see two of my neighbors, one on the elevator and one in the garage. I try my best to be friendly and to engage in a positive manner. But our lives are hurried, we are lost deep in thought about what we’re doing, what we’re facing, what’s happening to us.
Oftentimes, we can miss those opportunities to speak words of kindness, words of healing, words of joy, words of encouragement. We can also miss times where we can lend a helping hand, give a shoulder to cry on for comfort, just be present in the moment for someone who needs another soul to be near them.
What we say and do DOES matter, probably more than we can even know. One kind word, one smile, one nod of the head in affirmation. We have no idea how far that word or action may travel. What I say to my neighbor who I see infrequently, may just make the difference in how they experience the rest of their day. If I’m positive and affirming to them, what will they be like to others they then come in contact with. What I say or do may set off a whole chain of positivity that could result in changing someone’s world for a moment in time.
In Proverbs 15:1 we read…”A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” And in Proverbs 16:24…”Kind words are like honey— sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.”
The world has more than enough negative vibes to contend with. Plenty of hate, plenty of indifference, plenty of anger. What the world, and all of us, can use more of is kindness. Kindness doesn’t depend on me agreeing with everything you do, everything you believe, everything you support. Kindness doesn’t have to take a political stance. Kindness doesn’t have to wonder where another lands on whatever spectrum they are on. Kindness comes from somewhere deep inside of us. Its a part of our DNA, our makeup. We may not always express kindness in the same ways as others. But a smile means the same in any language, any culture. Soothing words and tone, are perceived the same the world over.
Today, we are commemorating the 23rd anniversary of that day when so many people lost their lives at the World Trade Center in New York, and at the Pentagon, and in a field in Pennsylvania. It was a day that started just like every other day. But it ended like no other. Hate, anger, fear, feelings of vengeance, grief, mourning, sadness. That’s how that day ended for so many. I’m not foolish enough to believe every angry person, every driven person, every brain-washed person, every mentally ill person can be dissuaded from the path they have chosen that leads to much tragedy and carnage. But I do have to wonder, if somewhere in their lives, would kindness have altered their trajectory?
John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the lyrics of Give Peace a Chance as an anti-war mantra during the Vietnam conflict. I don’t know that it made much difference, lives continued to be lost on both sides. But I do think it planted a message in the psyche of our world. Its been growing in many since that time. Maybe we should give kindness a chance too. Maybe what we say and do does matter in the grand scheme of things. Maybe our kind word or action will make a difference to someone who has lost their way.
Your companion on The Way,
Pastor Tom