Thoughts on Kindness

This Sunday I’m talking about kindness. My mind when back into history about 25 years.

When the American novelist, Henry James, was saying goodbye once to his young nephew Billy, his brother William’s son, he said something that the boy never forgot. Of all the things he might have said, what the old novelist did say was this, “There are three things that are important in human life — the first, is to be kind; the second, is to be kind; the third, is to be kind.”

Be kind enough to ourselves, not just to play it safe with our life for your own sakes, but to spend at least part of our lives like a motorcycle jumper or a deep sea diver, for God’s sake, if you believe in God — or, for the world’s sake, if you believe in the world. And that’s to come alive truly. Be kind enough to others, to listen beneath the words they speak for that usually unspoken hunger for kindness that is part of all of us, because by listening to it and cherishing it, maybe we can help bring it to birth, both in ourselves and in the world.

Be kind today, tomorrow, and forever.

In Christ,

Craig

[Thanks to Frederick Buechner for much of the above insight]

Training:

2 mile warm-up.

Then 4 x 3 minutes faster running followed by 4 minutes of recovery running.

3 mile cool-down.