Kindness and love are closely related, but I often think of love as an “unexpected bonus” or a “Lagniappe.” This is a term we often heard in the year we lived in Louisiana. Lagniappe is an unexpected bonus that comes with something else—it is the extra that makes kindness special.
A teacher asked her pupils to tell the meaning of loving-kindness. A little boy jumped up and said, “Well, if I was hungry and someone gave me a piece of bread that would be kindness. But if they put a little jelly on it, that would be loving-kindness” (God’s Little Devotional Book for Women). Kindness provides a home, but love makes a home. Kindness packs a satisfactory lunch, but love puts an inspirational note inside. Kindness sends a child to bed for the night, but love tucks the covers around their neck and gives a goodnight hug and kiss. Kindness keeps an orderly house, but love adds a fresh bouquet of flowers.
Love is taking the extra step to make life truly meaningful. Love is he 13th doughnut added to a dozen or the whipped cream added to a beautiful bowl of berries—it is a lagniappe! Let’s top off kindness with love!
“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in
truth.” (1 John 3:18)
No comments:
Post a Comment