BBL Challenge: Kindness

I just came back from a school hiking trip in the Drakensburg, and our accommodation was primitive to say the least: we slept in a cave, we showered in a waterfall and, most shockingly; there were no bathrooms!! Now I don't know about you, but I'm definitely not super comfortable with doing my business in a bush (lemme just tell you, grass can be very sharp and can poke you in some very weird places X_x)

So there I was, rushing to pack things for camp, when I forgot to bring the most fundamental thing: toilet paper! Not only would I have had to go in the open on a mountain, now I wouldn't be able to experience the last aspect of civilization either: using toilet paper.

Now luckily for me, I have some amazing friends and one of my friends, Megan, did a super generous and kind thing: she let me use her toilet paper.

Ok, I'm cringing writing this so far (toilet practices are not usually on the top of my list of conversation starters), but I thought Megan did a super kind thing- I mean what if, by some chance, she had run out of toilet paper because of me (gross, now I sound like I have a bladder  problem... Just remember this is hypothetical :P)?!



That brings me to the topic of this week's blog: kindness.

So now that patience has (hopefully) been cemented into place (my cement is still drying...), it's time to build the next part of the wall: the block of kindness.

"Love is patient, love is kind.... it is not self-seeking..." 1 Corinthians 13:4-5

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love..., patience, kindness...." Galatians 5:22


Once you have mastered the art of patience, it makes it a whole lot easier to be kind. But hey, wait! What is kindness?

In simple terms, I'd say it's being nice to others or doing something nice for someone else without expecting anything in return. However, I am not an English teacher, so here's the proper definition:



"The quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate" (Oxford Dictionary)



Ah that's awesome, so to be kind you should be friendly to, generous to and considerate of others.

Now why is this so important?

Well I think that being kind is showing love in the physical form. I mean think about it; would you go to your enemy and bake them a cake if you didn't love them at least a little bit? And no, poisonous cake does not count! :/

Kindness is such an important and strategic way to show God's love to others and to get them asking questions about God. Just imagine there was someone at your school/ work who wasn't able to bring lunch for some reason, so you packed an extra sandwich for them every day. Now that's super kind, and I bet you one day that person will ask, "Howcome you do this for me?" Then BAM! In you go with your whole lemme-tell-you-all-about-my-King speech #PerfectOpportunity.

Now here's the main reason kindess is important:

Are you ready for this?

Are you taking a seat?

This might shock you:
GOD TELLS US IN HIS WORD TO BE KIND.

It's as plain and simple as that. We are supposed to obey God, and part of that obeying means we should be kind to others.

In fact, Ephesians 4:32 tells us, "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Proverbs 11:17 says, "A man who is kind benefits himself, but a cruel man hurts himself."

Colossians 3:12 tells us to, "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience"

Romans 15:2, "Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up."

Acts 20:35, " ...the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”


As you can see, kindness is very important throughout the Word. Those were just a few examples but there are plenty more.


By being kind, many opportunities will be opened to you.  We should be kind to those around us, trying to build them up and not down. This does not necessarily mean only physically doing kind things- it means verbally as well. Our tongues hold the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21) and I think can actually be more harmful than a weapon. If you're stabbed or shot or whatever, the pain will eventually go away. However, when somebody says something nasty to you, it can affect you 'till your dying day.  Ephesians 4:29 actually warns us, "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

When we speak to, or about others, it should be encouraging and motivating; not belittling or demeaning. Life is hard enough as it is and I don't think we have the right to make it any harder for other people by verbally breaking them down. Words are important; they are impactful and powerful,  both in the way they can hurt someone and in the way they can bring someone up. Imagine if every time you wanted to say something bad about someone, you said something good instead? Imagine how different the world would be. Our words can change the world!


Kindness can also be shown physically, mainly through generosity. Now I think in today's economic slump, people are very hesitant to be kind; money's tight! But here's the thing: kindness does not have to be expensive. By spending tons of cash on doing something nice or kind does not make it any kinder. A kindness can be some as extravagant as buying a car for someone you know is battling, or as simple as lending someone toilet paper! To me, they are both equally kind as they meet two different needs.

I heard a sermon once titled "A Random Act of Kindness" that was centered at the idea that we should just do random, unplanned acts of kindness. Now that got me on fire; I wanted to be super kind to everyone and just do kind things all day. One thing I discovered, though, is that often when you least expect it, that is when God calls you to do the deed of kindness.

Maybe it's offering someone half your sandwich, or maybe it's volunteering at the SPCA or a children's shelter one weekend. Who knows? It may even something like listening to your grandpa reminisce about the past. Again, kindness does not have to cost you anything.


By building this block of kindness, you will be yet another step closer to love. We should "put on" kindness every day, refusing to leave the house without it. Kindness should become a natural inclination that requires no thought. It's not always easy to be kind, but just remember that you never know what someone else is going through, and by being kind to them, you may be saving their life in some way. Kindness can change families, people, lives. There is no limit to the heights that kindness can catapult you to.

Therefore my challenge to you this week is to SHOW KINDNESS.

Whether it may be saying something nice about someone else, sharing food with someone, giving money to a beggar, helping a granny cross the road, writing someone you don't normally speak to an encouraging letter...

Don't let people hold you back. Most importantly, don't hold yourself back! It is incredible to see what God is capable of doing when you start obeying Him.


Aesop said, "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."


So let's do this.

Let's change the world.

One small, kind step at a time.

Building Blocks To Love Challenge: Patience

In the next 9 weeks or so, if you partake in this challenge, you're going to build a wall. I know what you're thinking: "A wall? No thanks, I'll rather go watch cricket". But then you'll see how awful the Proteas are doing and you'll want to go back to building a wall (ok to be honest, I don't watch, nor do I understand cricket, so I don't actually know how the Proteas are playing. I just don't think their last game went well because I heard my gran sighing and shouting "Ag no man!" at the TV screen quite a lot). 

Now I guess I should get back to the point: building a wall. We're going to partake in a challenge: the Building Blocks to Love (BBL) challenge. This wall you'll be building, if you choose to join me, is a wall of love. 

Love is an important part of the Bible and God strongly urges us to love. He also continuously tells us how much He loves us and He has shown it to us in various ways- just take John 3:16 for example: For God so LOVED the world that He gave us His only Son. In fact, Mark 22:36-40 tells us that the greatest commandment is to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and then after that, it's to "love your neighbor as yourself". 

As you can see, love is quite important to God, and so it should be to us too. But now here's the problem: it is SO difficult to love most of the time. For example, when you're about to be late for work/school, and a taxi suddenly stops in the road in front of you, I don't think love is the first emotion that you feel. If it were me, I would probably think of some very foul words, get super angry and then make some very 'nice' hand signals. I don't think my first reaction would be to love the taxi driver and smile and wave and sing or whatever loving people do. 

It is hard to love a lot of the time, and that's why sometimes we need 'training' in it. We need to start building the blocks of love in our life; and I'm encouraging you to do this through the fruits of the Spirit. 

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 

To me, this ties in perfectly with fruits of the Spirit, which are: 

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control." Galatians 5:22-23

So through the next 9 weeks or so, I will post a blog on one fruit of the Spirit and then your challenge (and mine too!) will be to put that fruit into practice. 

Ahhh I'm excited already!! I hope you are too! :D (The teenage girl in me is trying so hard not to scream and cry and do all the things you'd normally see at a Justin Bieber concert)

I think that this challenge will be life changing if you follow it correctly and commit to it. I'm ready for my life to be changed, are you?

So let's start:

"Love is Patient".

Fruit 1: Patience. 

Ok, I'm officially probably THEE worst person to talk about this. I'm very impatient. However, this is also perfect because now I have the opportunity to put patience into practice B-) 

Patience is defined as "the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset" (Google). 

The word "patience" in Hebrew is "qavah", which means "to wait for, to hope, or to expect."

The more I read about patience, the more difficult it seems. However, it is not impossible. I mean look at Moses for example. He was probably the most patient guy in history. For those who are unfamiliar with the story, Moses basically led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. But these Israelites just kept complaining and complaining and complaining. Honestly, if I were Moses, I would have taken early retirement! 

Patience is vital when showing love. If you are getting impatient with people or situations, often that leads to sin. For example, let's say you need to open an account or something at the bank, but the teller you're dealing with is being super annoying and slow. So now you start thinking horrible things because you're getting impatient, maybe you start becoming quite rough and maybe you even say one or two hurtful comments. Is that portraying Jesus? No. Impatience is dangerous. 

Jesus was super patient. I mean imagine being the Son of God and knowing how AMAZING and awesome heaven is, but having to wait 30 odd years on earth first before being able to go back? Think about it: Have you ever been sooo excited about something that time drags until that thing happens? With me, for example, I was super excited for my birthday in February, which was on a Thursday. Never in my life had I had a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday drag so much- it was awful. Now imagine if I had to wait 30 years! 

I'm sure you've had many situations where you've been excited for something. So I'm pretty sure Jesus was excited to get back to heaven, but now He had to do His earthly duties (which I'm beyond grateful He did!) first. Never once do we read about Jesus complaining and sulking in a corner, instead He worked His butt off and made the most out of every opportunity. 

(There are tons of examples of Jesus being patient throughout the Bible, but I'm trying not to make this way too long to read)

Ephesians 5:1 tells us to be "imitators of God", and so if Jesus showed patience, should we not too?

I mean think how many people it could bring to Christ! Going back to the earlier example, imagine instead of being impatient with that teller, you accepted the delay without getting upset; you realised there was not much you could do about it and chose to just be friendly and Jesus-filled instead. Maybe that could have been an opportunity for you to share Jesus with the teller, or at least make her/his day better (Seriously, think about how many bitter people they deal with in a day!)

So how can we be patient? 

Well firstly, we have to pray for God to help us be patient and to open opportunities for us to practice patience; after all, how do you get good at something if you don't train? 

If you're starting to feel impatient in a situation, take a deep breath and send up a silent prayer. Impatience isn't going to help the situation at all, instead it will leave you feeling more stressed and uncomfortable.

Another thing you could do is be accountable to someone. Tell your best friend or spouse or pastor, or anyone you want, that you're trying to be patient and they can help and encourage you. Trust, it helps a lot! 

Also, why don't you put a little reminder for patience somewhere? Maybe write a "P" on your hand, or if put a little Bible verse about patience on a note and keep it on your desk or on your fridge or in your office or in your car or wherever you feel it will be most helpful. These are just ideas, but they help a lot. I, for example, often draw a small cross on my hand at school to remind me to be like Jesus.  Remember the story of Jacob in Genesis 29:20-28 where he worked a total of 14 years to get the girl he loved, even after her family tricked him. Maybe that would be a good Scripture to remind you on patience because at least you don't have to wait 14 years for the thing you want!

Patience should become a habit, then it'll get easier and easier to show. Remember that by showing Godly patience, you could honestly change somebody's. It's the same with impatience: by being impatience and maybe doing something regretful, that could have a horrible effect on somebody's life. 

Therefore I urge you, put patience into practice! This week the challenge is to be patient, whether at school, at work, at home, with your family, or whatever the situation. Let's start building block one and let's build it strong. 

I'm ready. 

Are you ? 

P.S. If you'd like to share about how you're doing on your patience challenge, that would be awesome! Why don't you post a comment on this blog, or on my Facebook wall, or even message me personally! :D 

Hebrews 12:1 "Therefore since we also are surrounded with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us" (NKJV)

Love

 joy 

peace 

patience 

goodness 

gentleness 

self control

Faithfulness 

Kindness