Bittersweet Impressions:
-Red River George (my red Jeep) faithfully helping with a few chores
-Friends that show up with trucks and vans and trailers just when you need them
-Grandchildren playing in the yard
-Lois puttering among in the flowers
-Sweet Hope getting some sun then doing Keira’s nails
-The first of the fireflies over the lush, green lawn
-Swapping stories on the porch with my grandson Koen. He’s talking with his hands and eyes.
-Three sunny days in a row
-A warm Sunday afternoon
-Cool evening breeze moving the leaves in the dark green canopy of trees over Bittersweet
-A soft rain comes in overnight. We don’t see it our hear it. We are fast asleep but in the morning the freshening effects of it were apparent everywhere.
-Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you from the depths of my soul. Your goodness overcomes the darkest evil.
Kindness
I watched a series of programs on Netflix recently. It was called The Kindness Diaries. There were two seasons. In the first season a fellow named Leon drove around the world on a bright yellow motorcycle with a side-car, depending entirely for gas, food, and lodging on the kindness of the people he met along the way. In the second season he drove a fifty-year-old yellow VW convertible from Alaska to Argentina using the same method. (This without a working heater. Sometimes ice and snow formed inside the car).
It was fascinating to watch. The sights were stunning. The acts of kindness were heart-warming often coming from people who had very little. The poverty was oppressive in some places. Leon said he often was helped by people who attributed their kindness to belief in God. He said; “They believe in God. I believe in humanity.”
His theology was incomplete, but along the way he began to call himself a “believer.” I thought of Cornelius, the God-fearing man in Acts who eventually came to follow Christ. Leon seemed like a sweet guy. I hope one day he, too will know and follow Jesus.
Kindness is a beautiful thing, it is a powerful thing, it is a universal thing. When I finished The Kindness Diaries series my heart was stirred with a powerful desire to honor God as a Christian by practicing kindness. Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit occurs in those who continually yield to the impulses of the Spirit in the power of the Spirit. The results of that kind of living are not just powerful and heart-warming, they are life-giving and miraculous.
While we are thinking about doing kindness and receiving kindness from people all around the world it is a good idea to remember the teaching of Jesus and how kindness to our “neighbor” the one nearest us with a need. Often the people who need our kindness the most are those who live under our roof.
Bittersweet Farm
Jun2 25, 2019
