Words From the Window SeatSample

Being a God-loving, healthiness-chasing flight attendant is extremely, extremely hard. Loving the hardest kinds of people while also being the boss and rule enforcer is really, really hard. It took me way too long to figure out the grace, love, and truth rule. There can be no truth without grace and love, and no grace and love without truth. Boundaries became my best friend. It took years to finally figure out how to enforce responsibility, leadership, and safety while having grace and love for the hard moments too. Kindness is love with its work boots on. I already know how to love pretty dang well if I say so myself, so hearing that kindness is simply love, with some deeper work and cooler shoes, made things easier for me. I painted kindness as a lot of different things, but I never truly thought about it as an extension of love. What a beautiful, fresh way to look at things. 

Maybe you aren’t a flight attendant who sits up in a metal tube all day with random humans getting upset at you over luggage and leg space. Maybe you are a parent, a freelancer, an Uber driver, a teacher, a doctor, a customer waiting in line, a passenger waiting to board the plane, or a student still in school. Wherever you are or whatever you do, I know for a fact that unkind humans inconvenience you often. Probably even daily. Do you find yourself snapping back quickly or getting easily upset? I know for a long time I have and I did. It took me years to find the secret recipe and balance. This quote is it. I find myself saying it in my head as someone is yelling at me or taking out their own life issues on me. Kindness is love with its work boots on. I’m challenging you now to do the same. If you don’t want to do the work, maybe getting fitted for a pair of work boots isn’t for you. If you are ready, though, why don’t you start by looking at the person who is unkind to you differently the next time? Lace-up those boots, grit your teeth, bite your tongue, do whatever you’ve got to do long enough to say those words to yourself. Plus, I think you look a lot better in work boots, if I do say so myself.

Prayer

Lord, I want to share your love with others. Please help me to know how to do so, and please help me be kind to all those I meet. Amen.