Psalm 138:8 – You, Lord, will always treat me with kindness. Your love never fails. You have made us what we are. Don’t give up on us now!

Ever feel like your life just ends up on autopilot? The days go by, things happen and before it, the month is nearly over?

Anyone else feel like October disappeared in a hot minute?

Life rolls on. We take care of the necessary things, try to make sure all right things get covered and take a little time to do something we enjoy and maybe care for ourselves. Yet, it is so easy to simply move ahead without always reflecting or contemplating the stuff that IS most important.

Until some thought or statement comes your way. And then, you realize that some things really are more important than other thoughts.

You knew this. For a long time. You try to organize your life in such a way that most of the time, these “important” things are not forgotten. But then, life gets in the way. And we need another reminder.

This happened to me this week. A simple statement that hit me over the head with a hammer. The realization that some things ARE more important than others.

While I am paraphrasing here, the statement went something like this:

These are three important things in life: to love deeply, to remember that life is fragile and to always choose kindness first.

It’s just three things. But it covers so much and brought me back to what IS important in life.

Love Deeply

When we are upset or disappointed or feel let down, it’s so easy to withdraw our love. When we see someone suffering, we wonder what to do. Or when life feels difficult and challenging, we wonder what to do.

Best solution: Double-down on love. Love deeper. More fully. With greater intention.

Withholding love doesn’t hurt another person nearly as much as it hurts ourselves. When we become stingy with our love, then we become stingy with so many other things. Holding love only for special occasions or in certain situations doesn’t make love more special. No, it only keeps us from experiencing all the love God yearns for us to know.

Maybe you were raised in a family that didn’t express or show love regularly. Be the first to change this. If the other person really hurt you, model God’s love for everyone by continuing to love them even if you may not fully like them or their choices.

It is amazing how often love can change a situation. Open up new possibilities. Cover a ride range of emotions and feelings. But this only happens when we discover the great JOY and PLEASURE of expressing love more freely and deeply than we could ever imagine.

Not sure how love can change things? Ponder for just a minute the deep, deep love God has for you. Try to fathom how much love God doles out to all of humanity. For FREE. And then try to embrace this same love in your life.

Life Is Fragile

Recently, a deep friend’s father died very unexpectedly. As we talked about her father’s death, she mentioned that he “was only 75. We thought we’d have another 20 years with him.”

But they didn’t.

I’m confident this friend and her family are facing the fragility of life more carefully these days.

Today is called the present because it is a gift. Every day is a gift. Every day is the present. Do we honor and treat each and every single day like a gift? Like a present?

Certainly, some days are more challenging than others. Some days, we wonder if God is for us or against us. Maybe it’s not God who is challenging you but the evil of this world.

I think we often forget that we can hold joy and sorrow in tandem with each other. We don’t have to completely abandon one for the other. Even if we aren’t feeling particularly cheery or joyful on a day, we can find small moments of joy and happiness in a day. We can celebrate the little small wins even if the rest of the day feels defeating and difficult.

Not every day will be a total win. This is real life. Yet, I pray that we remember that life can change or end or be turned upside down at any moment. This is why it is so imperative that we hold today tightly. Celebrate the day. The moments. The hours. And be confident that we appreciate every single minute of every day that we have.

Choose Kindness First

It amazes me how often we speak of kindness and yet, how little we practice it in our ordinary, regular lives.

Someone has a different opinion than we do? We disregard and/or disrespect them.

A situation is handled differently than we wish? We make sure everyone knows we aren’t happy.

We are disappointed someone received something that we didn’t or more than we did? Why, they aren’t nearly as talented as we are.

I could list so many more scenarios. But the result is often the same: we just need to treat people more like how we want to be treated than we do.

A little bit of kindness can cover a whole host of ill-will. Kindness can be the difference between an okay situation and one that has possibility. Our practice of kindness can change one person’s life and thus encourage them to embrace more kindness in their lives as well.

Are you familiar with Steve Hartman’s Kindness 101 campaign? Steve began this during the COVID-19 pandemic with his two children. They shared stories and little videos about how we can share kindness with other people. You can see their videos here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRsKIIQGrlG-nniyjgohDKG4SpVPMA43n

Today, Steve and his kids share ultimate kindness stories. Examples of people who embrace the kindness they yearn for people to share and how their stories have changed people’s lives. In his On the Road with Steve Hartman segment, Steve shares stories with kindness at the heart of them. The Kindness 101 movement has been so impactful that Drake University put together a K-12 Kindness curriculum that has many teachers and schools have embraced.

For the most part, kindness is fairly easy. It’s treating people the way you want to be treated. It doesn’t require any special skills. It’s simply showing up, putting a smile on your face, and choosing kindness over other less helpful emotions.

I applaud Steve Hartman for teaching his kids the importance of kindness and letting them be part of the story to tell it. If an average guy and his kids can change many people’s outlook and view about kindness, then can’t we do the same?

As I have thought about these three things – love, fragility of life and kindness – I am reminded that Jesus taught countless lessons about these same things. He knew and demonstrated the deep necessity for love in all situations. He knew that life could literally change in a heartbeat. And he demonstrated more kindness and compassion to people on the fringes of society than any other person. With no expectations or need for recognition.

If you could do anything this weekend, could you embrace these three things? Remember that doing so will add great meaning to your life? Commit to keeping these valuable lessons as a priority in how you live and act daily in your life?

Every day, we may get bombarded by countless thoughts and statements. Many of them, very good. Some, even very good. I encourage and pray that we will see these three priorities as ones that when embraced can change our lives. The lives of those around us. The people we know well or not so well. For when we embrace them, our lives have a different rhythm. We are focused on something that does make a difference. And this my friends, I am confident will bring true meaning into your life.

For the gift of rediscovering three things that make life very meaningful, I am very grateful.

Blessings –

Dianne

Loving God – Sometimes, we make life complicated. We forget that the little things are the big things. And we focus on things that seem important at the moment but may not be all that important at the end of the day. Help me love more deeply. Treat life fragilely and as a beautiful gift. May I be a person who embraces kindness first and treat others the way I desperately want to be treated. May I embrace these deeply meaningful aspects of life and live them daily. Amen.

Looking for a bit of daily inspiration? Check out my daily affirmation posts on Facebook (Dianne Deaton Vielhuber and Simple Words of Faith) or on Instagram (diannedeatonvielhuber.)

If you have enjoyed this blog, please pass it along to someone else who will also enjoy it.