Prayer and Kindness

Three days after the Newtown, Connecticut massacre, we pray for those entering a lifetime of grief.
We care for them by small acts of kindness.  A smile, a kind word, a gift -- small gestures that can be a momentary balm for the fire of their pain.

Put on kindness

A  lady passed out small jars of Burt's Bees moisturizer.  She likened rubbing this waxy substance into her hands as a parallel for putting on kindness.  Being kind requires work and continual attention, especially when those around us seem hardened and unreceptive.

But it is His kindness that leads us to repentence.  So, in turn, His kindness within us can be sent out to our "neighbor." 

Fine Wine

My husband compares graceful aging to that of a fine wine, that mellows and becomes beautifully resonant with age.  So it is, as I look at pictures of my husband and me together at our daughter's wedding.  The essence of a "fine wine" seems apparent as I see us, married for 26 years, still together at a most poignant moment in time.

Sometimes it's easy to stay together, sometimes it's not.  But the results can be that of tasting a fine wine.  These results can't be bought, or forced.  They only come with years of faithfully pursuing God and each other.