Day 2 - Love is Kind

Patience is a reaction of love to avoid conflict but kindness is love in action, choosing to give blessing.
Gentleness, helpfulness, willingness and initiative--these four core elements sum up kindness, the book said. And as I made a mental check of whether I displayed any of those in my marriage, I found myself truly lacking. For the most part, I was just obstinate and callous--unbending when it came to my decisions and harsh in my choice of words and audacious in my actions My kindness meter rated so low that it made me wonder how and why I am even still treated with respect by my husband. I kept focused and zeroed in on the little motivation I got yet I was blind to that which I failed to deliver myself. First patience, then kindness. I wonder what the other 38 days had in store for me. I bet it wasn't going to get easier. 
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Lord, being kind does not come easily to a self-centered person like me. I have always defined kindness in a self-serving way, always expecting that the same kindness be extended to me and extending it only when I feel like he deserves it. I love in ways I know how but loving in kindness is not my default language and because of that I know I have grown to be less amiable to the people I love. Help me with this struggle, Father -- that I may be gentler and more tender in my ways that I may show my love to my husband; that I may deliver the needs of the one I love first, even if it means putting mine on hold; that compromise will come naturally to me instead of protests and grumbles; that I may willingly listen and deliver rather than turn away and demand; that I may look first in my own reflection and fix it before I point a finger at his flaws; that I may readily demonstrate love even with little motivation.  Amen. 

Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each-other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you -- Ephesians 4:32


She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
~~Proverbs 31:26