While it’s always the right time for kindness, the Advent and Christmas season seems to be when our secular culture is a little more in line with Christian culture. I don’t mean to set up a dichotomy between the two, but there is something about being a Christ follower which sometimes puts us at odds with fitting in to the dominant culture.
Of course there are always exceptions. We find kind people all year round – some of whom aren’t even Christian! And there are the scrooges of the world – this pastor can tend towards that direction, especially concerning the commercial and sentimental aspects of Christmas. So, like most of life, not everything fits into neat little packages. (Except for hedgehogs)
Kindness is received and shared in different ways. What you think might be an act of kindness might wind up not being received that way. So if you try to do something kind and receive feedback that someone experienced it differently, the kind thing to do is to listen and learn. And if someone does something that irritates or frustrates you, perhaps it was that person’s effort to be kind. May our prayer be that God might guide our actions. And that we listen. Listening, after all, can be the greatest act of kindness.