One of the attributes we try to teach our children is kindness. It is the ability to be good-natured, caring and affectionate. It is basically showing concern for another with graciousness and respect. Kindness is a building block to our relationships with others. 

We know when we have been the recipient of kindness and when it has been lacking from others. We have the ability to experience kindness or its absence wherever we are. This is true for work, school, in the family, on the road, as a customer, even online or wherever people encounter one another. 

Some people may even keep track of the kindness they receive or the kindness they are denied. They may justify their behavior because of the lack of kindness they were shown. If that is the case, they probably need to adjust their kindness toward others. 

It does seem that kindness comes more easily to some than to others. Some people show a natural concern and connectedness to those they come in contact with. For others, it is a more conscious effort to make those connections. It has to do with mindfulness, being aware of what is happening around you.

Psychologist Ty Tashiro points out in his book “The Science of Happily Ever After” that kindness is a cornerstone in successful and enduring marriages. 

When you are interacting with another person, are you looking to be kind and generous or critical and hostile? Kindness nourishes relationships, while negativity can starve them. 

Is it any wonder that when Paul writes about love in I Corinthians 13, that it is in relation to kindness and that we are encouraged to treat one another in a caring and gracious manner? Wouldn’t your life be markedly improved if more people showed more kindness to you? Wouldn’t your life be markedly improved if you showed more kindness to them?

— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. John Tabaka is pastor of Grace Lutheran Church, Monroe.