FRIENDSHIP

Oh, the comfort--the inexpressible comfort
   of feeling safe with a person,
Having neither to weigh thoughts,
Nor measure words--but pouring them
All right out--just as they are--
Chaff and grain together--
Certain that a faithful hand will
Take and sift them--
Keep what is worth keeping--
And with the breath of kindness
Blow the rest away.

    ~ Dinah Maria Mulock Craik

Take Time to Be Kind

Kindness is a virtue
   given by The Lord,
It pays dividends in happiness
   and joy is its reward . . .
For, if you practice kindness
   in all you say and do,
The Lord will wrap His kindness
   around your heart and you . . .
And wrapped within His kindness
   you are sheltered and secure
And under His direction
   your way is safe and sure.

            ~ Helen Steiner Rice

The Sin of Omission

"Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin."
--James 4:17


It isn't the thing you do;
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you a bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.

The tender word forgotten,
The letter you did not write,
The flower you might have sent,
Are your haunting ghosts at night.

The stone you might have lifted
Out of a brother's way,
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were hurried too much to say;

The loving touch of the hand,
the gentle and winsome tone,
that you had no time or thought for
With troubles enough of your own.

The little acts of kindness,
So easily out of mind;
Those chances to be helpful
Which everyone may find--

No, it's not the thing you do,
It's the thing you leave undone,
Which gives you the bit of heartache
At the setting of the sun.

--Margaret E. Sangster