" Kindness is love in action. If patience is how love reacts in order to minimize a negative circumstance, kindness is how love acts to maximize a positive circumstance."
" One is preventive, the other proactive. But 'kindness' can feel a little generic when you try defining it, much less living it."
They go on to break kindness down into four "basic core ingredients."
Gentleness: You are careful how you treat your spouse, making it a point to not be unnecessarily harsh.
Helpfulness: You meet the needs of your spouse, even if your needs are put on hold.
Willingness: "Kindness inspires you to be agreeable."
Initiative:" Kindness thinks ahead, then takes the first step"
Today's Dare
In addition to saying nothing negative to your spouse again today,
Do at least one unexpected gesture as an act of kindness.
I would say,with a sigh of disappointment, that on a daily basis, the last person I am kind to is my husband.
All too often I, along with many others I don't doubt, take advantage of my spouses kind, listening ear. My rants may start innocent with the intention of just blowing off the built up steam from the day. But somewhere along the way it becomes a checklist of life's disappointments, soon his natural defenses set in and THE FIGHT IS ON!
Today, my random act of kindness was shown through, well honestly through my ability to just SHUT UP! I would say that if we really wanted to categorize it with one of the four "core ingredients" it would have to be Gentleness.
I awoke at 6 a.m. to rush to the store before the winter storm hit my area. When I came home I knew that he had said there was no early work for him, so he was going to sleep in. See, he is working approximately 1 1/2 hours away, and stays in a hotel all week. Normally, when he gets up he calls me, which is usually around 8 or 9. So when 9 o'clock rolled around and still no phone call, I thought I would ring him to see if he over-slept. I knew that according to ALL the weather stations, his area got hit the worst.
So, when he did not answer my mind began going CRAZY, you will learn(if you stick around) that I am somewhat of a worry-wart. I called him at least 3 times, sent 2 different texts and even posted something on Facebook. It wasn't until I started calling repeatedly that he finally answered the phone, and Yep( I sure you all had this puzzled figured out a long time ago),he was still asleep. The office had shut down somewhere around 6, so he never got up.
Now, normally I would probably fly off the handle and chew him up so badly that he felt 1 inch tall, but I did not. I was gentle in my words, I spoke softly but with conviction. I explained that I was so scared that he had gotten out to go to work and had an accident and no one knew about him that I was crying. That if he had not answered when he did, I was getting ready to call the police in his area and have them watch for him. Did I mention that I am a worry-wart? I chose to just breathe a sigh of relief that my fears were not true and just make sure he knew that I was not mad, I was concerned.
To my surprise, the world did not end just because I chose to keep my mouth SHUT!
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