Kindness, roses and God

[notice]A fortnightly devotional based on everyday experiences.[/notice]

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NIV)

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I STOPPED AT the stop street where the man who is always selling roses (even in the rain) stands and told him I’d like to buy two dozen. I pulled off the road and proceeded to hunt for my wallet. I couldn’t find it. I hunted some more. Still no money to pay for the bunches of roses I wanted to buy.

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I told the man who is always selling roses (even in the rain) that I didn’t have the money that I would stop and buy some the next day. He told me I could just take the roses and pay him tomorrow. He did it with no other guarantee then the hope that I would drive by the next day and actually pay him. I think he just did it to floor me with kindness when I least expected it.

If you had to ask me to tell you one thing that has really changed my view of God in the last year, I would tell you it’s realising that God is Kindness. You may think I’m not being very theologically sound here but I think I am. The bible says, “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The Bible also says, “love is kind…” (1 Corinthians 13:4), Therefore, God is Kind. Which makes God just like the man who is always selling roses (even in the rain).

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The thing I like about God (and the man who is always selling roses) is that they’re kind when I don’t deserve it. That’s the way we need to be. We need to be people who’s automatic response to others is kindness rather than anger or distrust or annoyance. We need to decide to become people who are characterized by kindness, people who live everyday looking for opportunities to be kind to those who least expect it.

Take a moment to think of an example when God was kind to you. When last were you simply kind to someone like that? Who can you be kind to today?