“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:31,32)
I was listening to a video about Africa, and the lecturer wondered what would have happened if the world powers had used their influence to try to stop the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It occurred to me that all the international efforts to stop the genocide in Darfur have failed so far. There are so many problems in the world that we cannot solve.
So I feel we need to be serious about what we can do. One thing we do control is how we act toward others. The scripture above recommends ways we should relate to people. At the very least we can be kind to one another.
My brother and sister and I were raised in a house with my mother and her parents. In that home, the adults were always kind. I did not see them argue or raise their voices. They had put aside all anger and clamor.
They were even kind to people who were not present. They said, “If you can’t say anything good about a person, don’t say anything.” They followed that advice, so there was no slander in their conversation.
Of course, we kids fought with each other. But now that we are adults, there is nothing but peace and good feelings between us.
The Rev. Eugene McCahan, who preceded me as pastor of Lost Creek Presbyterian Church, once introduced me as his minister and added that I was “kind.” I never thought of being kind as anything special. I felt that as a bare minimum, we should be kind to one another. Maybe I felt that way because kindness was the constant climate in the home where I was raised.
That does not mean there were no rules or responsibilities for me. There were dishes to be washed and coal to be brought up from the cellar. But in the atmosphere of kindness and mutual caring, we each did our part without complaint.
When I broke rules, there were consequences, but discipline was administered fairly and without anger or malice. Forgiveness was always present and I felt loved and accepted, even while submitting to the punishment for disobedience.
The world was full of problems when I was a child, but I was surrounded by peace and kindness. Because my family was kind to everyone, we lived at peace with the people we came in contact with. We could not bring peace to the whole world, but we fostered peace and enjoyed its benefits as far as our influence could reach.
Our surroundings can be like a mirror. They tend to reflect our own attitudes and actions back on ourselves. If we are belligerent, we will spark dissension and suffer from it. If we are cruel, others will usually respond with revenge. So if we want to enjoy kindness and peace, it should start with us.   

THE REV. WALTER WILLIAMS has been serving the Lord since he graduated from seminary in 1966. To comment on his column, send a letter to Standard Journal, 21 N. Arch St., Milton, Pa. 17847.