Refreshed
Theme of the Week: Kindness: Mini-Investment, Mega-Payback
Leslie Parrott
Friday, January 28, 2005
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verses: The more you grow like this, the more you will become productive and useful in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8). Bonus Reading: 2 Peter 1:3-11
"You didn't need to do that."
"I know—I wanted to," Les replied.
All morning I was working like mad to complete a report due after lunch. It was an unusually hot, muggy, Seattle morning in August, and I was parked at the kitchen table in front of my laptop computer when Les quietly slipped in and set up a fan to cool the room.
"I don't know if it'll make any difference," Les said, trying to place the fan in just the right place, "but I thought it was worth a try."
I don't know if the fan did anything to alleviate the oppressive heat that morning, but I recall feeling suddenly soothed by my husband's kindness. Why? Because he didn't have to go to the trouble of scrounging around our basement, still wearing his pre-shower bathrobe, to find our old fan in an attempt to make me feel better. I didn't ask him to do it. He never even heard me complain about the heat. He wasn't looking for appreciation, to make amends, or to get something in return. No, this was sheer kindness.
Kindness is an integral part of love because it stems from an uncalculating attitude that desires only the joy of seeing another person's situation enriched.
—Leslie Parrott in Love Is …
My Response: Today I'll look for an opportunity to do a favor before it is requested.
Thought to Apply: Every act of kindness and compassion done by any man for his fellow Christian is done by Christ working within him. —JULIAN OF NORWICH (English recluse)
Adapted from Love Is … (Zondervan, 1999) by permission.
Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
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Fill me with Your Spirit, Lord, so that Your love will overflow to others in thoughtful actions.
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