Cool to Be Kind

Did you know it’s really cool to be kind?

Karen Holford is married to Pastor Bernie Holford, and she is the Family Ministries Director of the Trans-European Division

Editor's note: See the PDF for the accompanying pictures and activities (p. 15): http://cdn.ministerialassociation.org/cdn/ministerialassociation.org/assets/spouses/sij-archives-en/2016/sij-en-2016-4.pdf?201610131500

AMAZING KINDNESS

Hey, there! Did you know it’s really cool to be kind? When people are asked whom they want to be friends with, or whom they want to marry, they usually want someone who is really kind to them.

Kindness is also a great way to be happy! One of the best ways to help sad people feel better is to encourage them to do something kind for someone else. It’s also one of the best ways to share God’s love with the people around us.

BIBLE VERSES ABOUT KINDNESS

Choose your favorite verse about kindness and memorize it. Write each word of the verse on a separate paper heart. Then arrange the word hearts in the correct order and stick them onto a sheet of paper. Here are some verses to choose from:

Matthew 5:40-44

Luke 10:27

Romans 12:9-21

1 Corinthians 13:4

Galatians 5:22, 23

Ephesians 4:32

Make a Poster

Design a poster that encourages people to do kind things. Ask if you can make posters to put up at church, at school, or in your local library. Design one to encourage your family to do kind things for each other and your neighbors.

The Kindest Person Ever

Jesus was the kindest person who ever lived. He spent every day being kind to people to show them how much God loved them. Jesus probably spent much more time doing kind things than He spent preaching. Often just being kind is a great way to be a witness for Jesus.

With your family, make a long list of all the different things Jesus did to show kindness, such as feeding hungry people, helping people to feel happy, welcoming little children, etc.

How many of these could you do with your family?

SHEEP AND GOATS

Jesus told a parable about the sheep and the goats. The sheep represented the people who did kind things for others. Read Matthew 25:31-46 and find out what the sheep/people did. Write each way they were kind on one of the sheep below.

ABCs of Kindness

Make an ABCs of kindness with your family. Write all the letters of the alphabet down the side of a sheet of paper. Then think of at least one way you can show kindness beginning with each letter. A—Ask people how you can help them; B—Bake a cake or loaf of bread and give it to someone; C—Card (design a beautiful card to brighten someone’s day); D— Drink (make a refreshing drink for someone); etc.

PICTURE IT!

Sometimes even tiny kindnesses can make a big difference. Once, when I was thousands of miles away from home on my birthday, someone left a little doughnut with a tiny candle in it on my doorstep. I’ve had lots of birthdays since then, but I’ve never forgotten that lovely little birthday doughnut.

Think about a time when someone was really kind to you. What did they do that was so special?

Invite everyone in your family to draw a picture of a time when someone was kind to them. Then show your pictures and tell your stories.

KINDNESS STARTS AT HOME

Read 1 Corinthians 13:4. The best way to develop your kindness muscles is to be kind at home. There are lots of ways you can be kind in your family.

Use a large sheet of paper and draw a big plan of your house. Then choose one room at a time and draw pictures or write lists of all the ways you could be kind in the kitchen, the family room, the hall, the bathroom, your bedroom, the yard, etc. Walk around your home and do one kind thing in each room.

GOOD NEIGHBORS

Read Matthew 22:38, 39. Draw a map of your neighborhood or apartment block. Who are your 10 nearest neighbors? Talk with your family about how you could be kind to these 10 neighbors.

Walk around the area and pray for your neighbors as you pass their homes. Ask God to help you know what kind of kindness they need most. And then do it.

You could bake cookies to share, make fruit baskets, sweep the sidewalk, mow their grass, give them bunches of flowers, or share your garden produce. Or perhaps you could invite them over for supper. Every time you do something kind for them, you are showing them God’s love.

Match the Kindness!

Match the Bible characters below to the kind things they did. Then search for their stories in the Bible. Can you think of other people who were kind too?

KIND HANDS

Read Colossians 3:23. Draw around your hands and then write a different way to be kind on each of your fingers. If you have little hands, draw around the hand of an adult so you have more space to write.

Add your favorite Bible verse about kindness. Put your picture where it will remind you to do kind things with your hands every day.

KIND WORDS

Read Ephesians 4:29. Our kind words can make a big difference! We can use our words to say we’re sorry, to comfort people who are sad, to make people smile, to encourage people who are tired, to say thank you when people help us, and to ask people how we can help them best.

Draw a huge speech bubble, and fill it with kind things you could say to those around you.

ONE LITTLE CHURCH

A village church in Congresbury, England, celebrated its 800th anniversary by collecting 800 acts of kindness. They asked people to fill in a card saying when and how someone was kind to them. People deposited their cards in a little mailbox in the church.

This project made a big difference to their village, and other towns are trying this too. Maybe your church could do something like this.*

RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS BIRTHDAY

When we do something kind for someone we don’t know, it’s often called a “random act of kindness.” One family chooses to spend their birthdays doing random acts of kindness.

When Jake was 10, they did 10 acts of kindness together, and when Gemma was 12, they did 12 kind things. The children plan their acts of kindness, and their parents help them. They did kind things such as taping dollar bills to some toys in a dollar store, visiting the loneliest person in a senior care home, buying food for a homeless shelter, giving away bottles of water in the local park, and baking cookies to take to the fire station.

How old will you be on your next birthday? Why not plan a special day of kindness and see how much fun it is to make other people happy?

LOTS OF KINDNESS IDEAS

Check out this Web site: www.lifevestinside.com. It has a wonderful video you can watch called “Kindness Boomerang.” You can also sign up for their daily email. It sends you lots of ideas for being kind, as well as short video clips about people being especially kind. You can also find lots more ideas at: www.randomactsofkindness.org/ kindness-ideas