Susan’s Thursday morning note June 15,2023
Prayer by Lillenas on Kindness Quotes on Kindness
Good morning. Coffee steaming. My angel of dawn peering through the darkness. Dawn. Silence. Morning angel. All three showing their faithfulness. Encouraging me to begin this morning looking with them to the heavens. Beginning this day already realizing I have again been given the gift of life. Beside me sits an old tattered book of poetry with one of my favorite prayers. A request asking God for the gift of kindness. This poem and favorite quotes beneath help me keep in perspective that those I meet today may not be whom I perceive on the surface. I remind myself of these thoughts and hope you also find treasures and an eternal perspective from this poem and quotes below.
My Daily Prayer
Lord, help me to be kind to those who are unkind,
Compassionate in heart to those who cannot find
In me, what they have sought in vain.
That I may have a love for those who love me less,
A patient tenderness for those who would not bless
But curse me, in their bitter pain.
Lord, help me to be kind to those who cannot see
My motives, or my plans, nor yet, why I should be
Just as I am, and nothing more;
That I may soon forget the words that seem unkind,
Full knowing that Thy grace each wounded heart can bind,
And love can heal it as before.
Lord, help me to be kind along life’s weary road,
That I may never add more weight to someone’s load,
To one who bears a heavy heart,
That I may never add a tear to those that fall
Nor cause a heart to ache, or drink the bitter gall
Because of my unthinking art.
Lord, help me to be kind to those who pass me by –
Succeeding, where I fail, no matter how I try –
Rejoicing in their good success;
That I may cheerful be, content to follow Thee
No matter what may come, if Thou wilt walk with me
Through shade or sunshine or distress. (Halder Lillenas)
Kind words are the music of the world. They have a power which seems to be beyond natural causes, as if they were some angel’s song which had lost its way and come on earth. It seems as if they could almost do what in reality God alone can do – soften the hard and angry hearts of people. No one was ever corrected by a sarcasm – crushed, perhaps, if the sarcasm was clever enough,but drawn nearer to God, never. Frederick William Faber
Neither genius, fame, nor love shows the greatness of the soul. Only kindness can do that. Jean Baptiste Henri Lacordaire
How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you have been all of these. George Washington Carver
A fellow who does things that count, doesn’t usually stop to count them. Variation of a saying by Albert Einstein
Be good by stealth, and blush to find it fame. Alexander Pope, 1738.
Make it a practice to judge persons and things in the most favorable light at all times and under all circumstances. Saint Vincent de Paul
A part of kindness consists in loving people more than they deserve. Joseph Joubert
When you receive a kindness, remember it; when you do a kindness, forget it. Greek Proverb
Don’t be yourself – be someone a little nicer. Mignon McLaughlin
The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own. Benjamin Disraeli
Until you have learned to be tolerant with those who do not always agree with you;
until you have cultivated the habit of saying some kind word of those whom you do not admire;
until you have formed the habit of looking for the good instead of the bad there is in others,
you will be neither successful nor happy. Napoleon HillYou cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know when it will be too late. Ralph Waldo Emerson
If every man’s internal care,
were written on his brow,
How many would our pity share
Who raise our envy now? Peitro Metastasio
Don’t wait for people to be friendly, show them how. Author Unknown
By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach. Winston Churchill
While great brilliance and intellect are to be admired, they cannot dry one tear or mend a broken spirit. Only kindness can accomplish this. John M. Drescher
One can pay back the loan of gold, but one dies forever in the debt to those who are kind. Malayan Proverb
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. Mark Twain
When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people. Abraham Joshua Heschel
Guard within yourself that treasure, kindness. Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness; know how to replace in your heart, by the happiness of those you love, the happiness that may be wanting to yourself. George Sand
Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness. Seneca
The sun is now showing herself, showing she chose orange pajamas last night. The world is now awake. This is our life. Our gift of today. Can we make the moments given worthy of being a gift to us? Our epitaph tonight. Our choices to how we handle what comes into our day. Who will we look to for examples in handling what is given or taken away from us? Our choices. Little ones and those we don’t realize are watching and learning from us. Generations of examples are within pages of great books. Will we take the time to learn? Nothing is new under the sun. How will we handle will be given and taken away? With eternal perspective? If we drop to our knees or look to the heavens peace is promised.. A peace that passes the understanding of any other.
Treasures wait for us to have access to. The treasure may be peace of mind. Not a tangible gift. Our moments today are our gift. Look little ones in the eye. Pray for energy to meet others’ eyes even if we feel we have nothing to give. Look to the fields. Notice the tiniest wildflowers making their entrance. Beauty. Thank you for letting me enter your Thursday again morning. Thank you for coming in our store and your continual support of our business. You’ll never know what your encourage means. If you have a chance to walk in our door we will have a smile, a cup of coffee, and a book that might possibly change your life. Susan
Latin for this week:
benevolentia, humanitas – kindness
noli benignitatem inerpretare quasi infirmitatem – Do not mistake kindness for weakness.
Works Cited:
Lillenas, Haldor. Favorite Radio Songs and Poems. Lillenas Publishing Company. Kansas City. 1940.