A Kind Person
Proverbs 11:17 – A kind person benefits himself, but a cruel person brings himself trouble.
I came home yesterday to find an unusual situation unfolding in our home and neighborhood. We recently moved to a home further out in the country. Across the dirt road in front of our home my youngest daughter was standing guard at the entrance to a hayfield and my wife was looking for our neighbors. A gate had been left open and four horses belonging to our neighbors across the road calmly walked away from the area where they are normally kept and into the hayfield. They were on the verge of leaving the hayfield and on to freedom were it not for the quick thinking of my wife and daughter who had noticed the horses were out of place. The neighbors were located, the horses were led back to their proper area and the gate was fastened shut. Later that day the owner of the horses paid us a visit to thank my wife and daughter for preventing the escape of their horses.
Everyone had good feelings about how things turned out. However if my family had ignored the unusual sight of the out of place horses, minded their own business and let the horses run free, it would have been a tremendous inconvenience to our neighbors and might have led to tragic losses.
In the end the horses were safe and we got to know our neighbors a little better. According to today’s proverb, kindness shown to others also brings benefits to ourselves. Had the kindness been withheld who knows what future trouble we would find ourselves in.
Let’s pay attention to our surroundings and look for ways to practice the kindness of Jesus Christ to others today!
Where two are gathered 