Kindness is an overflow

​I heard someone say yesterday, "I value kindness over niceness." On the heels of listening to a sermon on kindness Sunday, that value made perfect sense to me.

To me, it boils down to this. Niceness is something we do. Kindness is someone we are.

In his message, the pastor described kindness as an overflow. What a beautiful image, really. Overflow is preceded by fullness. Can't you just picture the people around you so full of kindness that it can't be contained.

It's like a flood; a kindness flood.

I'm not opposed to someone treating me nice. It beats mean every time. But I think nice can be preceded by 'what should I do here.' It can be preceded by thinking. And I've discovered that situations that require me to think about 'play nice or not?' - well, in those situations I'm not always doing my best thinking.

In those situations, I think it's nice to have the right thing just pour out of you before you hastily decide it's not the right thing. Because to be clear - kindness IS always the right thing.

It's impossible for kindness to go wrong. I'm not sure it's possible for mean to ever go right.

Of course, to get kindness boiling inside you enough for it to overflow - there has to be fuel for the boil. You have to hang close to something that lights that fire. The pastor said "kindness is evidence you've been around Jesus."

That's been true in my life. The closer I hang with Jesus, the less I have to think about being nice. The closer I hang with Jesus, the more kindness just overflows from me in spite of the way I can get to thinking. The closer I hang with Jesus, the more I start looking like Jesus without having to tell people I look like Jesus.

I know Jesus isn't everyone's thing. But the truth is, if we want to overflow something we have to hang close to something that overflows that something. Jesus has just been the greatest source of that something in my life.

Maybe you're not up for hanging close to Jesus. If not, I would encourage you to hang close to people who overflow kindness. It makes it more likely that will become your overflow as well.

And, it makes it more likely you'll never have to think about 'play nice or not?'

Because that's a choice that doesn't always result in kindness.