Philippians 4:5

Under the  banner of love, Jesus teaches us by instruction and by example that we are to be servants, nurturing and tending the needs of others divinely placed in our lives.

I believe the emphasis of a servant’s heart is love springing forth as “kindness enacted outwardly.” And because no one is free from suffering or pain to some degree in life,
we must always be mindful of extending love and kindness to others.  Often we do not have any idea about the struggles that some people have to face.
We cannot solve everybody’s problems, of course, but we can decide to believe in our own impact just by showing others that we care.  We are not asked to save the world; we are asked to be like Jesus, doing as much good as we can to as many as we can, as we have the opportunity.
You may have heard this little story before, but it bears repeating.  It begins with a man watching an older gentleman pick up starfish and toss them back into the sea.   The older man explains that he is rescuing the starfish from the sweltering heat of the sun.  The onlooker is not impressed, and he says sarcastically, “There are hundreds and hundreds of starfish here.  How can you possibly make a difference?” As the old gentleman picks up a starfish and hurls it back into the sea, he says softly, “It makes a difference to this one.”
Just remember that you, too, can make a difference, one by one.  You may even be privileged at times to see that your showing kindness and love to others often blooms forth and forward, touching people’s lives that you could not even imagine.
Maybe one man, Frederick Buechner, who compared the world to a great spider web, explains it better.  He says,
       If you touch it anywhere, you set the whole thing trembling….As we move around this world and as we act with kindness, perhaps, or with indifference, or with hostility
       toward the people we meet, we too are setting the great spider web a-tremble.  The life that I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another,
       until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place and time my touch will be felt.  Our lives are linked.  No man is an island.
I encourage you today and every day to continue setting the great spider web a-tremble with your kindness, and I leave you with these words:
“Let your gentleness be known to all men.  The Lord is at hand.”  Philippians 4:5
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