"She opens her mouth with wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness."

We're having VBS at church this week. Two straight hours of 25 kids trying to sit still through singing, skits, and scripture. Okay, so they get to stand up and wiggle every so often, and they get a lot of laughs from the skits and other things. And they get to stand up when we sing--and have fun doing it. But still, 2 hours can be a long time for the little ones.

There was one such little girl last night. She was probably about 4, and her brother looked like he was only 3. She was having the hardest time sitting still during the missionary story. Good grief, she was probably having trouble seeing around the people in front of her! Well finally another worker and I took those two and sat them on our laps, so they could see and so we could help keep them calm.

And you know what I was thinking about as I held that little girl during the Bible lesson? The law of kindness. Sure, kids are gonna wiggle and giggle. But how do we respond to that? How do we respond to the "big kids" that do that? Of course, we have to discipline. If we allowed kids to get away with everything they wanted to do there would be complete chaos. But we have to discipline them lovingly--according to the law of kindness.

Even with people our own age, we must use the law of kindness. Think about this common cliche for a moment: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." What does that mean? Use kindness! But what exactly is kindness? Compassion, consideration, sympathy, forgivness... Think about those words for a minute. Do we actually incorporate them into our daily activities? How are we compassionate to our coworkers, considerate with our families, sympathetic and forgiving to the people who could otherwise annoy us?

According to God, kindness is a law. And, contrary to some modern philosophy, laws are not made to be broken.

"So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."

(Proverbs 31:26; James 4:17)

Good thoughts. In Cody at this time of year, that becomes a tough practice toward those that aren't from around here (i.e. tourists). Thanks for the reminder.