I've been attending the sweetest little church recently. It is a funky old building on a quiet neighborhood street. Half the people are at least 110, which is charming. We sing music from a hymnal and the minister wears a robe. And we talk about how God is still speaking and how that changes us. Finally, a community of believers.
Sunday was the Epiphany. We celebrated the wise men who found the baby Jesus and recognized him as the Christ. A key point in the sermon revealed a piece of my struggle to be kind (an epiphany of my own!)
Turns out the wise men didn't actually know what that new found star in the sky was all about. They did however recognize that it meant something. They were open to what it might mean and how that might change their lives. They had what a buddhist might call a beginners mind.
The guy who did know all about this star, King Herrod, was furious. He knew all about the prophecies of a Messiah and that this was the high sign that Christ had been born. I'm getting to kindness, I promise. King Herrod was the expert and thus had already formulated his reaction to this event. In fact, he sent the "wise" men on their way.
In my own life, I seek so often to be seen as smart, together, and expert-like. It occurs to me that I'm King Herrod in my quest for kindness. How often am I striving to be the expert when I could strive to be kind? How often am I like the wise men, open and ready to receive the light that prompts a more kind approach?
Lemme tell ya, the latter isn't all that often. BUT, this is progress on my journey to kindness! If I can untangle my need to be all-knowing, then kindness might just pour out of my soul.
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