Kindness

I remember listening to the story of a woman who received a diagnosis of terminal cancer.

She was stunned. 

She spoke of the rage that welled up within her at the utter unfairness of it, and of a bottomless and permeating despair.

How could she live what remained of her life? How could she face the day? How could she put one foot in front of the other for what remained of her journey? 
The epiphany came, she related, in bringing to mind these words from the leader of her spiritual order:  In all circumstances, be kind.

That was her path forward. 

That's amazing to me.

In that moment, this brave, beautiful woman has cancer. She's going to die soon. Soon. What is she going to do?

She is going to strive at all times to remember the suffering of others, and to be kind.

She is going to be kind to the people who give her chemo.

She is going to be kind to people who are uncomfortable around her because her mortality frightens them. 

She is going to be kind to people who hurt her.

She is going to be kind to people who are hurting *with* her.

Most of all, she is going to be kind to those precious people who fail in their attempts to be strong for her, because they are already beginning to mourn her, even as she lingers.

Even in the depths of despair, through tears and pain, as this precious human life is taken from her in a way that is as unspeakably senseless as it is bewildering and cruel ...

She is going to remember the suffering of others.

She is going to make effort to reduce their suffering.

She is going to be kind. 

I was utterly blown away by this.

This saint is several years gone, now. But I believe, in the manner of her passing, she set an example for how you and I should live.

It's so easy to look at the outrages around us and to despair. 

It's so easy to become focused on our own suffering and to lash out. 

It's so easy to become frustrated or emotionally exhausted - "weary in well-doing." 

But, my prayer is, no matter what may happen, and as Almighty God gives me strength; may I in all things remember the suffering of others. 

May I always remember to be kind.

#myreligioniskindness