Resisting With Kindness

During the pandemic, a resistance movement is growing. While the news may be filled with grim statistics and sometimes scary predictions, there are also growing numbers of stories recounting the goodness of human beings, of creation healing and reawakening. People around the world are resisting the dark shadow the pandemic casts with acts of kindness, demonstrations of gratitude for the gift of Creation that includes not only the living beings of this world, but also the environment in which we are now becoming more able to draw a clean breath of air.

In its purest form, gratitude is a thankfulness that prompts the grateful to not only relish the gift, but also moves the recipient to share it with others. Gratitude today is evident as the people of God's creation reach out to others: donating blood, providing monetary gifts to help provide food for those struggling to feed themselves and their families, sewing/donating masks, following social guidelines, thanking in myriad ways those who face the pandemic each day, driving the bus, stocking our grocery shelves, caring for our sick and elderly.

During this time of pandemic PAUSE we have the opportunity to practice gratitude by caring for Creation in prayer; planting gardens, the fruits of which we can share at harvest; donating to food drives; reaching out in phone calls, emails, cards to others isolated in the community; following social guidelines; asking our legislators to sustain/reinstate environmentally-safe practices … practicing gratitude … resisting with kindness the pandemic's dark shadow.