I realize that I’ve been doing double quotations to begin and end each 2023 post, thus requiring the double quotes in the original to convert to single quotes. Yeah, this isn’t the easiest to edit on iPhone, so I’m not doing that. Sorry, grammar connoisseurs! Here’s the post from June 23, 2023.

“👟 RSD 1151 ✅ Today’s Verse: “May the Lord now show you kindness and faithfulness, and I too will show you the same favor because you have done this.” — 2 Samuel 2:6 (Mixing it up a little 1+1=2, 5+1=6).

Everybody’s busy. Everything seems to be “go, go, go” (I can’t stand that cliché, but it’s all I have at the moment), and it’s exhausting. Too often we don’t get to experience the current thing because we’re too concerned with the next thing. You know, you barely even hear the new(ish) song on the car radio when you’re stuck in the bank drive through line because you’re on your phone trying to answer an email…and it’s a WORK email too…it’s not even a funny meme or the link to a resident “cute small animal being cute and small” video. Or, you’re standing in line at Starbucks looking at your schedule for the week paying no mind to the community of people around you sharing in coffee-loving commonality. People are busy. All the time. It’s ok to be busy, but where we find the problem is when we’re too busy to notice the people around us. You know, you’re walking in the parking lot looking at your phone and don’t notice the person coming up behind you and allow the door to slam in their face. Being too busy to be kind—we’re all guilty, but we’re all a little TOO guilty. If everybody’s busy and everybody’s stressed, then wouldn’t everybody benefit from (even) small kindnesses throughout their day? Sometimes people are too into themselves to remember to be kind. BUT, sometimes people surprise you. Sometimes people just plain come in clutch (that’s “come through,” for anyone not talking to 17 year olds all day).

In today’s verse, these guys had come in clutch. The book for today’s verse is 2 Samuel (named for the prophet Samuel who God called to serve as a kid (literally called in the middle of the night) and who had the gift of giving people a “heads up” about things), but the speaker here is David (you’ve heard of the story of David & Goliath? The kid who defeated the giant with a slingshot? This guy…only he’s an adult in today’s verse). When David is talking here, he already knew he would be the next king (Samuel was sent by God with that head’s up when David was a kid, and David had just been anointed by the kingdom’s leadership in today’s story because the other king had died). David is speaking here a dictation to a messenger to send to the men who had taken great care of the previous king’s burial (he had died in battle alongside his adult son, so they actually had to travel to retrieve the bodies of both men from the enemy, something that was risky and that they didn’t have to do but did out of love and respect). This was no small kindness; these guys had to go to a great deal of personal difficulty to show this kindness, but they thought it worth the effort. And, I suppose that’s the real lesson in today’s verse.

Kindness and faithfulness (from Merriam-Webster, “steadfast (from Oxford, “resolutely and dutifully firm and unwavering”) in affection or allegiance”) from the Lord is how David wanted these men repaid, so he prayed this for them, asking God to take good care of them, and sent a messenger so that these men would know that the new king (and the anointed of God) was thinking of them and praying for them. David promises to be kind and faithful himself because of the great act of love that they performed at great personal risk. These guys could’ve stayed in their town when they heard of the king’s death (and how the enemy was making a spectacle of him and his son) and felt sad for the king, maybe offered some prayers up too (which is always a good idea, by the way), but these guys decided to drop everything and to try their best to put things right (1 Samuel 31:12 describes it as “all their valiant men marched through the night”); they even fasted after the burials. The love and respect shown by these men provided a great comfort to all who loved the king and his son. Well worth the effort. True kindness is really found in acts of love, whether you’re marching all night into enemy territory or taking the time to text a stressed-out friend that you’re thinking about them. No matter the size, acts of love always overflow their containers, and there’s no shortage of opportunities.

And, when you’re on the receiving end (like David), don’t forget it. No, it’s not a “keep score” sort of thing. It’s just a “don’t forget that you were loved that day” sort of thing. Allow people’s kindness toward you to sink into you. Absorb it into your soul. And, when you’re presented with your own opportunity for kindness, compassion, generosity, etc, spill some love into the next person’s cup. Yours won’t empty from it: in fact, it somehow fills more, overflows even (yeah, I know more spilt love, but no need for a paper towel—this type of spill you don’t need to wipe up…in fact, someone might accidentally set their elbow in your spilt kindness, so now some of it’s on them). No big deal, nothing to clean—it absorbs quickly. So, you’re thinking, “Yeah, I get the metaphor, but the cup would eventually become empty?” Fair point, plus there’s that famous meme about “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” God takes care of this for us, though. Psalm 23:5 acknowledges God’s way of coming through for this need for us saying, “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” See, no matter how empty we feel or how much we’ve poured out, we can always ask God (and count on God) to make our cup full again. Fitting, don’t you think? AND, guess who wrote Psalm 23?!? You know it: our guy David.

Today’s accompanying photo is me taking the time to appreciate the new(ish) song on the radio (I’m trying too, y’all). Writing this reflection made me think of an (I think) apropos quote from Princess Diana that I think you’ll enjoy: “Carry out a random act of kindness with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.””