'Unconscious kindness

Unconscious kindness

A young woman who had passed through deep sorrows said to a friend one day, in speaking of the comfort certain people had given her unconsciously, "I wish some people knew just how much their faces can comfort one! I often ride down in the same streetcar with your father, and it has been such a help to me to sit next to him.

There is something so uplifting and kind and strong about him, that it has been a comfort just to feel he was beside me. Sometimes, when I have been utterly depressed and discouraged, he has seemed somehow to know just the right word to say to me; but if he didn't talk, why, I just looked at his face, and that helped me. He probably has not the least idea of it, either, for I know him so slightly, and I don't suppose people half realize, anyway, how much they are helping or hindering others!"

There is a great deal of this unconscious kindness in the world. Moses knew not that his face shone. The best people are not aware of their goodness. Kindness that is aware of itself, has lost much of its charm. Kindnesses that are done unconsciously, mean the most.

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." Colossians 3:12-14

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