Kindness is not passive. It’s not a personality trait. It’s often not easy. Kindness requires much.

As I’ve reflected on the kindest of deeds, I kept finding the same pattern: Awareness + Action.

Kind people don’t cover their eyes from the hurts and problems of humanity. They see. They learn. They research. They pay attention. They become aware.

But it doesn’t end there.

Kind people move from awareness to action. They pray, they talk, they move, they struggle, they work, and they do all that they can. They are people of action.

Consider the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Consider an adult gently picking up a child who has fallen off the playground.

Consider the miracles of Jesus.

Consider any great mission or charitable organization.

Consider my friends who opened an orphanage because there were no place for the orphaned.

Consider the cross.

Kindness = Awareness + Action.