For your loving-kindness is better than life itself;
This morning, I’m struck again by the word lovingkindness. Yesterday, I went on about how lovingkindness is better than kindness by itself because kindness ascribes no motive or intention. Clearly kindness is good, but I’d argue that lovingkindness implies that active, compelling verb – love – is the reason behind the kindness. That deep sense that your wellbeing is connected to mine. That’s the difference, as I see it, between kindness and lovingkindness.
So this morning there’s another aspect of lovingkindness. Today it’s used to describe God’s kindness to us. Hmm. Does that mean that there’s a sense of my wellbeing that’s tied up with God’s wellbeing? And while I understand that God isn’t a human which has the same senses as we do. After all, God created the heavens and the earth. And God is everywhere, and everything. God is before all and endures forever.
Hmm. This makes that image even more compelling, actually. What if all that is and all that was, and all that is to come is really concerned with my wellbeing? Not just God’s’ kindness, but God’s lovingkindness towards me. That’s hard to wrap my head around. I’ve heard the platitudes and sung the songs that Jesus loves me, this I know. But God’s lovingkindness? Maybe it’s because I’ve been thinking about lovingkindness. How it demands that I acknowledge the mutual interconnectedness between me and my neighbor. But I’m truly dumbstruck to think that I have that interconnectedness and mutual wellbeing with God.
Maybe it’s catching on – my idea that lovingkindness should become a real word used more frequently. It caught my eye in yesterday morning’s reading from Titus, and today, it shows up again. Hey, I have an idea. Lovingkindness in 2020! I can see the yard signs and bumper stickers now.
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