Charity and Kindness seem to be pretty obviously related, and I’m not going to post much about this concept (I have only a few minutes to post)

One of the best lessons on kindness is that of the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Here are a few things that I noticed

• Kindness and compassion are closely related. In fact, sometimes compassion motivates us to be kind.
• Being kind is a state of being – either we are kind or we are not. If we are truly kind, then we will serve others – regardless of their status or circumstances. We are kind to all because we are kind. It is simple. – I guess another way of saying this is if we are kind, then we are kind to friends, enemies, plants, animals, everything. Kindness isn’t a way to act for a day or two – it is a sense of being.
• Kindness also seems to be quite spiritual in that we must follow the Spirit. In the parable of the good samaritan, he went above and beyond to serve his fellow man. He made sure that the robbed man was taken care of. Yet, the Good Samaritan didn’t completely abandon his journey. He did what he needed to do, and then went on. I’m not sure if I’m making sense here or not, so I’ll try…
  
  Sometimes I have this idea that if I’m truly charitable or kind, then I’ll do everything within my power that is needed. I even tend to get this confused with the idea that I need to do everything. But this isn’t the case. The Good Samaritan doesn’t completely cancel his journey. He takes care of the robbed man, then pays the innkeeper to take care of him while the Samaritan leaves. This isn’t out of selfishness, it is out of prudence. The Spirit will help us to discern what is needful and what is extraneous.
• We also need to be kind to ourselves. What if the Good Samaritan had seen that the robbed man was a Jew then thought to himself, “Well, I’m not really worthy to help a Jewish man. It would only offend him.”? It seems silly, but I’m often unkind to myself, which stops me from having kindness or charity to others.
• Kindness is given without expectation or compensation.
• Kindness can be the way that others experience the love of the Lord. – How cool is it to know that through our kindness, we can help to contribute to the testimony of another. It isn’t that I want any recognition for being kind, it is just cool to know that when we are kind, the Lord is able to use us his instruments.

Kindness and charity are related. In fact, it seems preposterous that charity could be obtained or expressed without kindness. The connection is obvious. If we have Christ’s pure love, then we are kind.

I know that I can do more to show kindness. A lot of my lack of kindness has to do with my lack of patience. I get frustrated with someone, then I withdraw kindness. Charity doesn’t work that way, and neither does kindness. I know that I need to learn to be kind, unconditionally. Being a parent has really helped me with this.

How do you work to increase your kindness?