A LITTLE BIT OF KINDNESS GOES A LONG WAY

Proverbs 16:24 NLT Kind words are like honey - sweet to the soul and healthy for the body. 

I’ve been finding out about honey and honeybees and I was amazed to discover that honey is the only known food which has all the ingredients needed to keep us alive! It can act as an antidepressant, an antioxidant to prevent diseases, it’s good for burns and cuts and helps our brains as well as anti ageing. It reminds me of the song, “A spoonful of honey helps the medicine go down!”😊

The writer of Proverbs likens honey to pleasant, or kind words. It’s wonderful to think kind words spoken over us can help our bodies to be healthy and even strengthen our bones, one translation says.  Everybody loves to receive a kind word especially when we’ve had a hard day or things have ganged up against us, and a kind word at the right time can sooth our ruffled spirits and calm us down when we’re disturbed, or build us back up when we’ve been knocked down.

On those days when we feel like the stuffing has been knocked out of us, kind words are a bit like building blocks that are being put back in, encouraging us to keep going or help us to forgive a hurt. I used to have a friend who told me he married his wife because she was the kindest person he knew. Isn’t that a lovely thing to say and wouldn’t it be lovely to have that said of each one of us too?

We really don’t want to be known for harsh or judgemental words but may our words be filled with the grace of God, full of His loving kindness, just like God is to us. Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you. This verse shows us kindness is connected to forgiveness. In 1 Cor.13 we’re reminded kindness and love go together, while Colossians 3:12 tells us to ‘put on’ kindness and to bear with one another.

All in all kindness is linked with so many other lovely attributes and does us all such a lot of good, just like honey.😊 So let’s remember a word or two of kindness will go a long way and really bless people. 

And don’t forget, speaking kind words over ourselves will also do us good, so how about taking a spoonful of honey and a spoonful of kindness at the same time and really sweeten ourselves up. A little bit of kindness goes a long way.😊Amen.

Photo by Art Rachen on Unsplash