Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.

~Philippians 4:4-8

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Love Dare - Love is Kind

I've been focusing on this one quite a bit and I am ashamed to say it has taken me almost 2 weeks to start "getting" it.

I've often thought being kind meant not being the one to start an argument, to not be mean for no reason. But I was so wrong. It is so very much more than this.

One thing brought to mind was that kindness means anticipating the needs of your spouse (or someone else) and meeting them in that moment. It means thinking and acting outside of you and your needs, taking the focus off yourself. I've often thought of myself as kind, but the Lord has been revealing to me how self-focused I truly am most of the time. This has been very humbling for me.

Proverbs 31 describes a good wife as being one whose husband and children praise and bless her. "She opens her mouth in wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue." (Proverbs 31:26) That is so not me, but someone I so want to be.

There were some questions at the end of this day's challenge which I think are very important. Ones that I'm not sure I like my answers to:

1. How would your spouse describe you on the kindness meter?
2. How harsh are you?
3. How gentle & helpful?
4. Do you wait to be asked, or do you take the initiative to help?
5. Do you wait for your spouse to be kind first?

Lord,
please continue to reveal to me those areas I need to work on and please transform me to be the wife and mother you want me to be. My desire is to step into that destiny that You have for me. Please help me to do so.
AMEN

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