All who are thirsty, all who are weak come to the fountain. Dip your hearts in the stream of life. Let the pain and the sorrow be washed away in the waves of his mercy as deep cries out to deep, we sing come, Lord Jesus, come.

Kutless

Lent has begun. And the question that everyone is still asking is, what are you giving up?

However, the better question we should all be asking ourselves is, what are we doing to work for God’s kingdom?

In worship a couple of weeks ago, we told our children that the Lenten practice we hope they will attempt this year is an act of random kindness every day. Because, as my favorite Presbyterian minister, Mr. Rogers, always said, kindness is the key to everything.

Start small. Find some little way to brighten someone’s day. Or give them comfort in distress. Or help them along their earthly journey. There are countless ways all of us can live into this practice.

And here is why it is so important that we do: most often God’s miracles come through us.

Five hundred years ago, Teresa of Avila wrote a poem that explains why this is so…

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which he looks

Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which he blesses all the world.

Though God still brings about the major changes that God desires to see in this world, it is our actions, big and small, that help. We do them because God is alive within us, pushing us into greater acts of love. And it is that love that draws ever more people to the fountain of life.

So do something kind. Ask God to transform your heart into Christ’s own. And remember, that the love God has given you is meant to be shared in every moment, with every breath, at all times while we live on this earth.