Are You Kind?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. – Galatians 5:22-23 NKJV.
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering. – Colossians 3:12 NKJV.
Trieste Belmont is doing well now, but one day in 2014 she almost jumped off a bridge to end her life. Why would she want to do that? She was having trouble with depression along with some bad things happening along the same time that had pushed her to that point.
The most important thing to know about Trieste is why she didn’t jump off the bridge that day. What happened was as she was beginning to jump someone drove by and shouted, “Don’t Jump.” Just those two words changed everything, even the direction of her life. Those two words shouted by one person kept her from ending her life. She says, “Something that I realized is that even if something’s not a huge moment in your life, just the little, small gestures, and kindnesses that you can make for other people really do make a difference.” (NPR Hidden Brain 09.14.23)
In 1981, we were on a vacation trip and visiting the Royal Gorge at Colorado Springs. We walked across the Royal Gorge bridge which is suspended more than a thousand feet above the Arkansas River. While we were still on the bridge four or five men and women climbed up on the steel of the bridge and jumped off. It was shocking! What I didn’t know until that time was that they were bungee jumpers. I had never heard of bungee jumping until that day. It happened so fast, but I remember no one shouted “Don’t Jump” but we should have since we didn’t know what was actually happening.
Those moments when we can make a difference in people’s lives are often very fleeting, occurring so quickly. We need to always be alert to those around us because there may be someone that is in great need of a kind word or gesture that may change the course of their lives.
Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit, do you have it?