THE POWER OF KINDNESS-by Heidi McLaughlin

The word “kindness” may sound limpid, but I believe it is the strongest expression of love. If you notice a decline in human kindness, you’re not alone.  I was saddened and shocked by research done by the University of Michigan which states: “After the year 2000, College kids today are about forty percent lower in empathy (kindness) than their counterparts of twenty or thirty years ago.”  That was the beginning of the media age and kids grew up with access to games that eventually numb people to the pain of others.  When we become isolated and selfish, we don’t make time to be kind.

I am so grateful for people who still live their lives the way the Jesus taught us in the Bible which says: “…you should practice tender-hearted mercy and kindness to others” (Colossians 3:12 TLB). It takes unselfishness and time to stop our busy lives and make a phone call, deliver a meal, drop off a flower, or invite someone out for dinner.

It’s been five months since the death of my second husband and I am still receiving tender-hearted kindness from many people.  At the end of the third month I hit a wall and needed emotional and physical support.  When I prayed and asked God for help He used kind people to be His hands and feet to help me with every aspect of my life. Throughout my grieving journey, kind people have been my greatest gift. Those who took me in when I could not function on my own. Those who came to stay in my home and support me with meals and daily functions. Those who checked in with me every day to make sure I was O.K. Even the simple things like a card in the mail or in my Inbox, or joining me on a walk or a cup of tea.  Those people who made the time to extend kindness have literally changed my life

Kindness is not being a doormat or acquiescing to uncomfortable or unrealistic demands. Kindness is a sincere desire to allow the Holy Spirit to shape our hearts like Jesus, overflowing with compassion. To follow the example of Jesus, we need to re-adjust our over-abundant, over-complicated and busy lives to make time for a hurting world.

Modelling kindness to our younger generation is the first step to changing the statistics that our next generation is self-centered and uncaring. Through the astounding kindness that I have received in the last five months, I know that when I have the strength and ability, I will make it my life mission to extend kindness wherever I go.  I believe it’s the greatest legacy I can leave.

University of Michigan research: http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases, 7724, September 12, 2015

Heidi McLaughlin lives in the beautiful vineyards of the Okanagan Valley in Kelowna, British Columbia. Heidi has been widowed twice. She is a mom and step mom of a wonderful, eclectic blended family of 5 children and 12 grandchildren. When Heidi is not working, she loves to curl up with a great book, or golf and laugh with her family and special friends.

Her latest book RESTLESS FOR MORE: Fulfillment in Unexpected Places (Including a FREE downloadable Study Guide) is now available at Amazon.ca; Amazon.com, Goodreads.com or her website: www.heartconnection.ca

A True Gift – More than Ink and Paper (Peter A. Black)

My gratitude was real . . . and surprising, even to me.

I beamed, “Thank you Lord . . . what a gift!” Gifts come in many shapes and sizes and in various forms. We often think of gifts as ‘things’ – something we give to or receive from someone else.
 

This ‘gift’? A magazine article.* Words. Black ink on white paper. Also a coloured photo of a smiling, greying-haired woman of Asian ethnicity. I first met Debbie Sirjoosingh three decades ago and heard her address a number of conferences over the years.

I still sense the throb of passion with which she spoke of her love for the people of Ethiopia, the country where she was serving. People were dying in the tens of thousands from disease and starvation, during famine and political upheaval. She’d shared the love of Jesus there, treating the sick and distributing food. After six years, Debbie returned to her work amongst her beloved Turkana people of northwest Kenya.

This woman has been a gift from God to thousands. That ‘gift’ article updated me on her life, and I’m thrilled that her fruitful labour continues and her passion remains unabated today. An afterglow lingered in my soul right through Christmas.

Upon her original arrival at a remote area of Turkana in the early 1980s, she was greeted by 60 degree Celsius temperatures, parched land and whirling, blowing sand and a dried-up river bed and virtually no water.
 

A grass hut became home and a small rodent-infested hut her dispensary. No phone, no post office and no newspapers. Neither was there electricity or medical doctors. And yet, in her heart she belonged. “[That’s] where God desired me to serve Him: among the Turkana people . . .” she said. 

Although she didn’t know the language and had no one to teach her, Debbie learned by living and interacting with the people and loving them in practical ways. Back then, most local Turkana had never heard the name of Jesus. Many years before, a German missionary couple had shared Jesus’ message, but were long gone.

Photo Credit: SAGE, Fall 2015
www.paoc.org

“My heart danced with joy,” Debbie said, “knowing that I was sent by the Lord who loves me, to minister to a forgotten people.”

I was truly humbled when reading her words: “I worked on the ground, on bended knees, delivering babies, washing and binding very infected wounds, dividing my bed sheets to give to the naked, cooking porridge and tea to serve the hungry, excavating graves with pick-axe and shovel to bury the ones who succumbed.”

What a gift: one woman, one compassion-filled heart, alone with God!  I’d also heard some time ago that she’d dug foundations and helped erect buildings for housing practical services and ministries for the people of the community. Churches have been established and pastors raised up and equipped to minister amongst the Turkana.

Currently, with funding from praying friends and donor supporters in Canada and assistance from ERDO (denominational-based NGO) and in cooperation with Kenya Ministry of Health, much has been accomplished. Presently a solar-powered health centre is under construction. It will soon be opened to care for the medical needs of 50,000 people and will provide both in-patient and out-patient care.

Although told that there was no water in the area, through prayer Debbie and those involved were led to “the exact spot to sink a borehole,” so they now have water to support the development. She has trained Turkana students who are continuing their education in various aspects of nursing, nutrition, agriculture, and more.

This intrepid follower of Jesus is still gripped by a passionate forward-reaching grace. “My journey continues, hand in hand with Him, until eternity,” she said.  And so, one year flows into the next and Deborah Sirjoosingh continues to go with the flow, sailing on and serving wherever the will of God carries her.

Hers has been an ‘incarnational’ Christian life. And that is what Christmas is about. God was incarnate – “robed in flesh” – in Jesus Christ. He still is, in people like Debbie. More than ink and paper, God’s Best Gifts are “the word made flesh.”

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*Photo credit and updated information courtesy of SAGE, Fall 2015; www.paoc.org;

Article by Deborah Sirjoosingh with Freda Myco.

 

(A shorter edition of the above post was published in Peter's weekly column, P-Pep! in The Standard Guide Advocate, Dec. 17, 2015.)

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Have We Seen Too Much? - by Heidi McLaughlin

A sharp reality hit me this week.  A certain image shifted in my spirit and I became disturbed as I took the time to read the article on CNN. It is called “I’m just worried” written by Benazir Wehelie, and photographed by Alex Majoli during their time in Paris on Friday. [i] My perplexed spirit wasn’t so much about the horrors of the attacks, but the superficial and conflicting reactions of our present culture.

            Have we seen so many school shootings, beheadings, terrorist attacks and refugees that we have become desensitized? Alex, the photographer, states that in the site of the attacks people were taking selfies. Why?  To post on Instagram or Facebook to say that “I was there?” Perhaps we have become self absorbed about being part of the biggest adventure, or the most prestigious event, or seen with the most famous people?   Perhaps for some people it is a need for them to capture the spotlight and give them some historic and notorious recognition. Social media has lured us into believing that in order to have self worth and prestige we have to display a brilliant cutting edge life that no one else has. It hurts my heart to think that we have become so numb to tragedies that we grab tragic moments to glamorize ourselves.

            I remember the Columbine massacre on April 20, 1999 in Littleton, Colorado. It devastated our seemingly ideal existence and marked our country’s sadness for years. Our hearts broke for young people’s lost lives and we were horrified that someone could execute such loathsome acts.  Now when CNN reports another school shooting we shake our head, sigh and move on because there will probably be another travesty next week.

            But I can’t point a finger. I am aware that I no longer weep when I see a T.V. ad pleading for the support of a child that is under nourished, sad and hopeless.  There is so much anger, terrorism, violence and hopelessness these days that it seems easier to focus on our survival and happiness.  After all, I can’t do anything to change the world so I’ll look out for number one.

            That is not how we were designed to live. When Jesus walked on this earth he: “…saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34 NIV).

            We are not hopeless. We are not lost.  We have a shepherd whose heart must be breaking for mankind.  We have been given the command to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Matthew 22:39 NIV).

            So we can’t tune out. We can’t ignore. We are all connected. Even though we have a global view and at times it all seems too much, we must follow Jesus’ example and allow our hearts to feel the pain and sorrow of mankind.  Then to do what we can to help one another in our areas of influence.  Whether we like it or not, we are all God’s creations and until Jesus returns we are His hands and feet to bear one another’s burdens. “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2 NLT).

            “Heavenly Father forgive us for our selfish hearts. Help us to look at the crowds with hearts of compassion and mercy and to do our part wherever we can. Thank You. Amen.”

 Heidi McLaughlin lives in the beautiful vineyards of the Okanagan Valley in Kelowna, British Columbia. She is married to Pastor Jack and they have a wonderful, eclectic blended family of 5 children and 9 grandchildren. When Heidi is not working, she loves to curl up with a great book, or golf and laugh with her husband and special friends. You can reach her at: www.heartconnection.ca

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[i] http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/15/world/cnnphotos-paris-attacks-alex-majoli/index/html