Kindness is contagious

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”  (Luke 6:45, NIV)

The world is in a state of chaos at the moment. People are afraid for their health and for the health of their loved ones. They’re afraid about how all this craziness will affect their jobs and their income, their plans and the economy. 

Viruses are contagious, but so is fear and panic. 

While doing my weekly grocery shop, I was chatting with the employee at the check out. I see her there regularly and we always catch up while I’m going through the self-serve. The store was insanely busy, and she told me they’d had problems with panic-buying customers becoming rude and aggressive towards their staff. She said she’d been dreading going into work everyday and expressed how nice it was to see a familiar, friendly face. 

While viruses, fear and panic are all contagious, so are love, compassion and kindness. It’s important we choose carefully which of these we spread. Which, I’ll admit, is something I read on an Instagram post that’s really stayed with me through all of this. We don’t have a lot of control over what’s going on in the world at the moment. We can’t stop our workplaces closing down and our plans being cancelled. But we do have control over how we choose to act and how we treat other people when disaster strikes.

Luke 6:45 tells us that the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. So I’d ask that we all make an effort to think about what we’re filling up our hearts with, and in turn what we are projecting onto the people around us. It’s easy to forget that a simple act of kindness or a friendly smile towards grocery store staff could make all the difference to someone’s day. 

There’s an Eastern proverb that says ‘your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your destiny’. I might be paraphrasing that one a little bit, but the sentiment remains; what starts in your head and in your heart will ultimately shine through into your personality. 

So, what’s in your heart right now?