Saturday, January 24, 2026
Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Hurricanes of kindness
 How can the warriors have fallen–
in the thick of the battle,
slain upon your heights!
Around here, a lot of folks are talking about the weather. And “around here” might be in Illinois where I have on several layers as I write, or the North Carolina coast where Uncle Merlie is approaching his 100th birthday on February 12, or Texas where Margaret is charging up all our lamps and filling buckets with water and stockpiling every blanket (Texas went through this in 2021, and we learned some stuff). Worried sometimes, excited to wear red underwear on snow days sometimes, as we did already this winter in November. Global warming has made this week very cold. One more snarling polar vortex is breathing down our necks, and I for one have on my long red underwear, a turtleneck, neck gaiter and a brand new Carhartt stocking cap. One size fits all.
My friend, whose lungs are sensitive, decided to skip two prayer and prophetic meetings at her church yesterday, and she missed them very much. But the wind chill in Urbana yesterday did not get above minus 10. Stay home, scroll on your phone, watch TV, make hot chocolate, sleep. Ah … sleep!
I did go out, for a birthday lunch with my friend Jim who is once again a year older than me. As usual, we talked about lots besides our aches and pains. Over a great Chinese buffet we argued about who was the least kind of the two of us. Or most kind. Or most confused.
The fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Against such things there is no law.
Firefox’s AI overview offers some ideas about the contents of kindness.
The true meaning of kindness is showing genuine care, compassion, and helpfulness towards others, often through actions done without expecting rewards, recognition, or reciprocity, stemming from empathy and a desire to ease another’s burden, even when it’s difficult. It’s more than just being “nice”; it’s an intentional, thoughtful quality that involves generosity, consideration, and standing up for what’s right, creating a positive ripple effect.
Intentional, empathic, selfless, considerate and courageous. Kindness is not just the gentle ripple on a peaceful lake or a burbling brook quietly passing through the woods. It’s more like a generous rushing spring or a benevolent tsunami.
Yesterday’s passage about David might be an example. David chose not to kill Saul when he came upon him sleeping in the cave. And today as hears that Saul is dead, David weeps for his king, and loves him, though he was slain by his own sword in the middle of a disastrous battle. David remembered the good that Saul had done and forgot the rest. In his own beautiful way, David eulogized the man who tried over and over to destroy him.
Saul and Jonathan, beloved and cherished,
separated neither in life nor in death,
swifter than eagles, stronger than lions!
Women of Israel, weep over Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet and in finery,
who decked your attire with ornaments of gold.
We all have what you might call “God-stories,” moments that felt like miracles – consolidations of joy and peace, when our somewhat subconsciously erected and defended barriers suddenly fall away, along with the familiar divisions between earth and spirit, body and mind, you and me, me and God. Our “apart-ness” falls away, and we can see through our selfishness how God’s kindness pervades everything. What Paul calls “fruit of the Spirit” is so close we can taste and touch it, even take a bite.
I might ask for moments like this, but I can’t make them come. Maybe I’ll have a couple shots of bourbon and smoke a joint, and the divisions might collapse for a bit. As my friend testified, the feeling of oneness that just came upon him, kind of from the inside-outside of himself, it blessed him then and the remembrance blesses him now.
Still, these moments are given, not made. At least not made by me. I guess sometimes I’m armored up so much I can’t receive, but I think God works his way in underneath the swords and shields I put on to “make me safe,” and touches me anyway.
God
is love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Paul didn’t say it, but the fruit of the spirit is also the nature of God. We can recognize his likeness in ourselves, and when we sometimes surrender to it, well … as Isaiah said yesterday, “The people in darkness have seen a great light.”
No doubt Jim and I could be more kind, more often, for longer. We could allow God’s courage to become ours and beg him to make his intentions ours. And no doubt we will. Then for a time we can call ourselves “kind.”
And then we’ll forget, return to our dividedness and leave when we should stay, run when we could wait, turn away when we might have reached out our arms to hold/love/touch/be one with someone, who instead of collapsing in despair can then say, thank you! You saved my life!
No, we’d say, that was you hearing God inside yourself, saying that it’s safe to come out now. And in your own moment of courage, that’s just what you did.
Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
Let us see your face, Lord, and we shall be saved.
 (2 Samuel 1, Psalm 80, Acts 16, Mark 3)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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