Charity Strife - "Is Kind"

For charity suffereth long, and is kind, and envieth not, and is not puffed up, seeketh not her own, and is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, and rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in truth, believeth all things, beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 

"Is Kind"

I love this one. First, here is what I wrote in my MTC Journal:

To be kind I think is to have a deep love for other people and respect for the children of Heavenly Father. With that love and respect you are long suffering and no matter what people choose to do with their agency - you choose to do what Jesus would do, like in 1 Nephi 19:9 "And the world, because of their iniquity shall judge Him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge Him, and He suffereth it, and the smite Him and he suffereth it, yea they spit upon Him and He suffereth it - because of His loving kindness  and His long-suffering towards the children of men." That is the pure love of Christ again. "And He suffereth it." I need to "suffer it" and no matter what anyone does or says of thinks - I need to remember that I should do as Christ did with his loving kindness and "suffereth it" and love all the children of men because they deserve love no matter what. I love what the Lord says: "with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee saith the Lord thy Redeemer." (3 Nephi 22:8). To truly have charity, I need to emulate the Savior. I want to have this everlasting kindness toward all who I come in contact with. if I do have this humble and bold kindness - I will show the Lord my love for Him be showing it to His children. All his children are His. Not just some - but ALL and even when the seem far from it - He still loves them and I should too because I want to emulate the Savior and by so doing be a true follower of Jesus Christ. It is very inconvenient, embarrassing, and at times not fun, but it is not for yourself or for the world like it says in Helaman 5:8 " that ye may not do these things that ye may boast, but that ye may do these things to lay up for yourselves a treasure in heaven." That treasure is the everlasting kindness of the Savior when we are kind to His own.  

Wow. I was really good at run-on sentences and was not very good at spelling and grammar (I have actually corrected much of it when I typed it in here - but not everything) ha.

What I think now:

I think that kindness is the gift that never stops giving. It is a divine attribute. I love this list of attributes because it is basically like saying - here is how to become like a god. One cannot be godlike if they are not possessed with a deep kindness.

Kindness is never wasted. Kindness makes us happier. You will never regret being kind to someone, but you may regret being unkind, or just neglecting to be kind to someone. I believe that kindness is part of the embodiment of godliness. Here is why I think that. So many people pray for help or for something that they need. And God answers those prayers. He really does. The amazing thing is that most of the time, He answers prayers through His children. He works through people to answer the prayers that He has received. It is almost like He is the master networker. haha. But he only networks with those who are in tune with His Spirit and who are ready to listen to Him. God is kind through us - if we are listening to how we can be an answer to one of the prayers He has received from someone who really needs His help. I believe that is a part of kindness - being the answer to someone's prayer. Because God will most definitely use us to show His kindness to His children. We can become God's kindness - embodied. Kindness embodied. One step closer to becoming like He is. Becoming like a god. Godlike life. Life eternal.

This caused me to really think more deeply about eternal life. Feel free to read more here on my public blog.  I will actually include this concept in Live My Gospel. Super powerful.