Monday, January 4, 2021

Kindness and Loyalty

 

Monday, January 4, 2021

My child, never forget the things I have taught you.  Store my commands in your heart.  If you do this, you will live many years, and your life will be satisfying.  Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!  Tie them around your neck as a reminder.  Write them deep within your heart.  Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.   Proverbs 3:1-6

I first heard the last two verses of this text from my mother when I was quite young.  The words still roll off my lips like a gentle waterfall (in King James-ease, of course)!  But the words that precede – a father’s instruction to his son about some of the most profitable and praiseworthy life-skills, practicing kindness and loyalty – these are the keys to trusting in the Lord with all your heart, and honoring God with all you do.  To be kind and loyal is to be faithfully opening your life to having God show you the best paths.

I saw, and participated in, that this past week.  It was not a cataclysmic event covered by all the news channels.  It wasn’t life and death in the biological sense.  It was a simple interchange between two men at a gas station.  I had stopped to fill the gas tank and get a cup of that high octane coffee.  As I approached the double doors that lead to java heaven a man, perhaps thirty years or so younger than I, reached the entryway first and pulled open the door.  As he did, he stepped backward, and with the most perfect theatrical bow and sweep of his arm, he smiled (with his eyes, because the bottom half of his face was covered with a mask) and offered, after you, my friend.  I couldn’t help grinning under my mask.  I bowed a thank you and stepped-inside.  I then grabbed the inner door, opened it, stepped aside, and bowed as low as this old back can manage, and offered (in my best James Earl Jones voice) after you, my friend.  We both chuckled, and I said, we can’t be too kind these days, can we?  He responded, not at all, ever! 

Two men, more than just civil, and without even skipping a beat, lifting each other’s day with a kind, momentary gesture of which a hundred other people in the parking lot probably never took note; but, I, somehow felt lighter all the way home.  And, a day later, I still savor the kindness, and loyalty to brotherly neighborliness.

It occurred to me that kindness and loyalty are twins; they share the same DNA, and you cannot un-join them.  A commitment to loyalty is understanding of a lifetime of kindness expressed, whether reciprocated or not.  Loyalty passionately holds forth kindness.  And genuine kindness cannot be disloyal.  

When King Solomon, God’s preacher of wisdom, coached his prince-son in God’s way to a life filled with God-honored blessings, he put kindness and loyalty in the front seat of the wagon.  This is what drives us onto God’s best pathway.

For You Today

You, as I, have been the recipient of kindness and loyalty in your life.  I can say that with assurance, because there are too many people in our world who practice this for you to not have bumped into some of them.  Perhaps it was at a gas station, or somewhere in your life you just needed to experience a genuine whiff of Godly air.

When you got that whiff, it was God saying, Tag…you’re it!  Now, go spread it around!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

GO TO VIDEO

[1] Title Image: Courtesy  Pixabay.com

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on this text see God's Life Skills - Not for the Half-Hearted and Sometimes It's Better for the Ship to Sink   



 

No comments:

Post a Comment