Kindness Begins at Home

Her mouth speaks wisdom, and loving instruction is on her tongue. —Proverbs 31:26

Nowhere am I more tempted to be selfish than in my home and closest relationships. I fear this is true for most of us. Too often, we show more concern and kindness for neighbors, colleagues, or complete strangers than for those who live under the same roof with us or who are related to us by blood or marriage.

Dealing with the responsibilities of home requires diligence and discipline day in and day out. It requires hard work. But it also requires kindness.

And that’s where things can get challenging. It’s easy to be like the woman who once lamented to me, “I’m only good enough to look good to the world.” At home, it’s often another story.

Yes, kindness at home takes extra effort. But if we all demonstrated true kindness toward the people who know us best and see us at our worst, our more public displays of affection would likely ring truer. And I suspect that if we showed more kindness at home, we’d also find ourselves growing genuinely kinder toward everyone else.