I am an Oklahoman by birth, a Texan by current living situation, but claim the world as my playground.I love to travel and hope to someday soon take our family on adventures to far off lands, where we can share God with others and experience all the wonders He has created.
I am a mother of 5 crazy, homeschooling children ages 10 & under, wife to an amazing man, and daughter of the King of the Universe!I enjoy reading, making my kids laugh, cooking, all things natural, learning to play guitar and dusting off my piano skills.One day I hope to run again, but until then I’m learning patience.
We know that every good gift comes from God and the gift of kindness is no exception.
Kindness makes our heart smile. It gives us warm fuzzies. Receiving kindness makes us want to give kindness too!
Kindness Cookies
That’s where these fantastic kindness cookies come into play. You see, this month’s Family Time Training Activity, “Kindness”, is not just a one day activity. It’s about intentionally creating the attribute of kindness in kids and adults of all ages. (Truly, even we as adults need this reminder in our lives…like during rush hour traffic.)
This Kindness Activity includes:
The Kindness Activity Script, which has all the Bible verse references and important thoughts to share during the activity.
Act of Kindness Worksheet, which include great acts of kindness ideas.
Act of Kindness Calendar, which is used to show which acts of kindness you’ve completed.
Click here to download this month’s FREE activity!
The idea is to write the Acts of Kindness ideas provided in the worksheet on slips of paper and even brainstorm your own, then choose one of these each day to fulfill. An extra fun way to choose your Act of Kindness for the day is by turning it into a Kindness Cookie, which of course looks like a fortune cookie.
Don’t miss the end of this post, where we share how else we used these Kindness Cookies.
Making Kindness Cookies
I found this easy to follow video tutorial by Red Ted Art that shows you how to make paper fortune cookies. I used these fortune cookies and put our Random Acts of Kindness inside each one. This way the kids will take turns each day choosing a brightly colored Kindness Cookie that will reveal one way our family can focus on being kind.
Our next to youngest got to choose the first Kindness Cookie, because without prodding, he helped his sister clean up water that was accidentally spilled on the floor.
Going Beyond the Activity
There are so many ways that we can implement the ideas given in this “Kindness” Activity. One idea that popped to mind was to fill these Kindness Cookies with what we love and appreciate about somebody else. Giving the gift of recognition is sweet!
Our girls, along with one of their friends, filled out the slips of paper that go inside the cookies, ran to their fort, and gifted them to each other. The anticipation grew as they picked up each cookie, gently pulled out the slips and read the kind words written about each of them. Of course, their mile-wide smiles expressed what the kind words meant to them.
There are so many people in our lives who do not know how much we value them. We will one day speak of how wonderful they were at their funerals but why not take a few moments while it still matters, to share with them the jewel of a person they are? Make a batch of Kindness Cookies that they can enjoy and be encouraged by over the next several days or month.
However you choose to use the Kindness Cookies, we know that you will not only make someone else’s day a little brighter but you will delight God with your kindness.
An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up. – Proverbs 12:25
Prayer over Your Heart
Part of the prayerencouraged in the script is to…
“pray that God would give you a kind heart like His.”
How beautiful is that?
Lord, we humbly come before you now. We want to serve you with all our hearts and want to serve others too. Help us open our hearts to you and see the opportunities you put before us, so that we can cheer others up with our kind words and actions. May we lay down our hearts so that you can pluck out the selfish nature that lies within it and allow you to mold our hearts to express your attributes including the attribute of kindness. In the One who displayed your kindness and love by stretching out his arms on the cross for us – Amen!
I am a proud wife and Mother! My hubby, Tyler, and I both attended Oklahoma Christian where our love grew! We got married, had two beautiful kiddos, our son Gunner and daughter Brooklyn, and we are living a truly blessed life! I am a Kindergarten teacher in the great state of Texas and most importantly a Christian. I strive daily to keep God #1 because he is the reason I have all the amazing blessings, I give him all the praise!
Every day we make choices: what to eat, where to go, and quite simply how to act. It is amazing when you think about it just how many decisions you make during one 24-hour period, but they can make or break you with each one.
About a year ago my husband and our two small children went to McDonald’s for lunch before a movie. While we were sitting there my sister called me with something important she needed to talk about. I was on the phone for a few minutes when I heard a lady start yelling at me:
“How about getting off the phone and take care of your kids!”
Mind you, my kids are not quiet but this was a time when they were actually being pleasant! I turned around and asked her politely, “What?” because I honestly thought I might have misunderstood her. She, along with three older women, kept yelling at me. I could not believe what I was hearing but I had this incredible urge to leave the establishment and say nothing to them.
I believe that was God guiding me to make the right decision and choose kindness.
Now believe me, I was fuming mad once I got out to the car! I almost got out of my car to go inside and really let them know what I thought but we chose to leave. After we got home, my heart was heavy. Not only that I was yelled at, but that a complete stranger thought it was ok to treat someone like that.
Choosing Kindness isn’t Easy
From that point on, I remember thinking how much harder it is to choose kindness rather than choosing to say whatever is on your mind. It is easy to let people know what you think; it takes strength and character to assess the situation and choose kindness. Does this mean you let people run over you? Absolutely not! You can always show kindness even when you are confronting someone who is harming you.
Jesus has numerous examples of dealing with difficult people and tough situations. One that sticks out is in John 8 when the Pharisees brought a woman who had committed adultery to Jesus and told him that the law said she should be stoned. Instead of being furious for the acts they were committing, singling this woman out, he started writing in the sand, stood up, and asked:
“Let anyone who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Of course no one could because all have sinned. Jesus told her he didn’t condemn her either. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
I love how Jesus does everything in love and kindness. He had every right to be mad and let the Pharisees know exactly what he thought of their actions but he chose strength in being silent and making a statement in love. I am thankful that I have the Word to lean on rather than the world to show me how to be and how to act. Praise God for that!
A few things that help me remember to always choose kindness:
In any situation, please choose kindness.
It takes more strength to do and say what is right rather than wrong.
Hello. I grew up traveling the world as a military brat. I ultimately felt God's pull to Oklahoma Christian University where I met my husband. We now have 3 beautiful children and have settled in Mustang, Oklahoma.I am a homeschooling mom and with 3 kiddos it is a full time job! I am daily encouraged by God's great patience and grace in my life. In my free time I enjoy reading and crafting.
For example, I am an introverted extrovert. Now, I know that doesn’t make much sense, but essentially for me it means that I like to be by myself, except when I don’t. I like to be with people, and I especially like to be included in things that are fun. Now my husband, on the other hand, is what I like to think of as an introverted introvert, meaning that he likes to be around people the bare minimum of acceptable or appropriate time. He recognizes that he must deal with people and be around people at work and other places; however, if socializing is not required, why do it?
Holidays Friction
You might see how this could create a certain amount of friction in our home. I use the word friction very lightly. For us, it’s not really an issue because we’ve found a middle ground that works most of the time.
However, holidays seem to be the time when these differences can really creep in and cause a disturbance in the home. Take two people with different personalities, backgrounds, and traditions and put them in the same home during holiday time and I can guarantee there will be some discussing that goes on.
The October Challenge
For us, nothing has proven more difficult than agreeing on festivities for the month of October. Call it what you will–Halloween, All Hallows Eve, The Day of the Devil–this day has proven to be a difficult one for our family to find any middle ground. My husband feels very strongly that we should be locked in our home with the lights off, watching movies and pretending that the rest of the world doesn’t exist during this day. For me, I see it as an amazing opportunity to have some serious fun with my kids!
We’ve been at this parenting thing for just over six years, and October 31st requires extensive discussion every single year. Don’t get me wrong, discussion is great. It means that both parties are open to voicing and hearing the other person’s opinion. However, it also means that there is obviously not a clearly defined answer to the question “What are we going to do this year for Halloween?”
Finding Balance
Our wonderful church hosts a neat little get-together where the kids can (but aren’t required to) dress up and they get to play carnival games and eat popcorn and get candy and they love it. And I love it. And my husband tolerates it. No scary costumes are allowed and there are no scary elements. Other churches around town host other activities as well. But this always seems to bring up the discussion in our house about whether people in the church should really be participating in this “holiday” at all. That’s a long winding road that I am not going to traverse in this blog. However, it is just another point that comes up each year when we are trying to decide what to do!
But this again brings me to another point: finding a balance which can exist in the home among two different people with different minds, hearts, souls, and backgrounds. Each year we discuss extensively what’s on our hearts regarding this day. Each year we battle with ourselves and sometimes one another. Each year we find agreement and some middle, (or his side, or her side) ground that we rest on. And each year we live to see another year as a family.
God Intends Us to Love
So often small and simple conflicts seem to wedge themselves further between us and our loved ones. And for what? Sometimes it’s our own pride that gets in the way. Sometimes it’s the sting of the other person’s words. Sometimes it’s just plain and simple bitterness. But whatever it is that is driving a wedge between spouses, children and families, it’s not of God. One of the most popular verses from the bible can be applied here.
How those words can sting when we are not practicing them! Love does not insist on its own way. For me I have to really dwell on this verse when there are times of friction between my husband and I. There will always be things to discuss. There are always opportunities for disagreements, whether it be about holiday celebrations or bigger issues in life. The thing I have to remember is that God intends for us to love.
Do you ever find that you and your spouse have one particular thing that you can’t seem to agree on? How have you worked through it?
What scriptures inspire you to love those God has placed in your life?
A lot of prayer and thought has gone into whether or not to write this post. For you see, I am your acquaintance, your old high school friend, your daughter, your granddaughter, a person you sit next to in worship. I am your Facebook friend. I am typically very transparent in my life but there is an area that I only share with those closet to me. Those free of judgement and “Well, you need to…” statements.
You see, a year ago my daughter, a high school student, through tears of shame and fear told me that she was gay. It was nothing I did not already suspect.
This is a journey that my “tribe” rarely speaks of and in the past has not been a topic tied to love and grace. As the headlines of the supreme court decision began to hit social media, I quickly saw my news feed divide. Mostly, it was profile pictures turning to rainbows or some pretty heartless, condemning, and unkind statements. My heart began to sink as I noticed some of these people were people my daughter looked up to and were even related to.
I wanted to scream of my daughter’s struggle and that these hurtful statements were beyond counter productive. There are a lot of things I do not know about this journey for my daughter. I don’t know what this will look like in her life. I don’t know all the right things to do or say.
BUT what I do know is: I love my daughter. I will walk beside her on this journey and not try to drag her on the journey I think she needs. I will pray over her daily. I DO trust God to work in my daughter’s life and be Lord of her life.
This is my verse for my child.
We know all the scriptures that have been listed. We know all the theologies you could discuss with us. That is not what my daughter needs. She needs to know she is loved.
She needs to know that she is loved by God’s people unlike any other people on earth. I truly believe that God created us to crave community and I have done everything in my power to make it well-know to my children that the church is that community. This week has placed my daughter back into a place of shame and you see, as a mom I do not want to tell her story but I want her to know I am not ashamed of her.
What I wanted my Facebook status to be this week was:
There are young eyes that are watching how “our tribe” will respond to this day. Young eyes that are searching and struggling with their sexuality. They are looking for a safe place. A place filled with love to navigate a difficult journey. We need to remember that they may be reading Facebook today through a frame of insecurity and fear and if they do not find an overwhelming feeling of love, they might just determine not only are they better off turning their back on God and anyone claiming to be “His people” but also maybe this life. Please post wisely and thoughtfully. Do you want to be right or do you want to exude God’s love?
Luke 15:20 says “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him…” Only love brings us back to God’s open arms.
Are you willing to help me love my daughter and anyone else who is struggling, so that they too may feel Christ’s hands & feet at work in their lives?
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