In This Moment: Kindness

By Karen Whistler

On Friday, Pastor Marietta shared a helpful resource (click here) for supporting kids through the tension and stress they may be absorbing from the election.  It included a book list and I instantly felt a strong connection 

This was just what I needed. We have been struggling as a family to explain the current political reality to our kids. Tuesday night we watched the election coverage and our daughter got out her Kamala Harris book and was waving it in the air to show her vote . We tried to keep things at the highest, most kid-appropriate level. As a family we talk a lot about kindness. So we mostly focused on the tone of each candidate in our discussions and used this as an opportunity to talk about how US government works in general.  

On Wednesday, as a family we had conversations around the outcome of the election. It was not easy. From the perspective of kindheartedness, we struggled to understand why the candidate that we observed as someone who focused often on kindness and lifting people up lost to the candidate who we observed as saying unkind things and sometimes putting people down. All people are imperfect, but from the perspective of kindheartedness this was our focus. 

When Pastor Marietta sent the list, I found myself diving full energy into getting these books ... some way to channel my own tension into ‘something’ as a coping strategy. I went through the list and checked to see which books are available in the Kitsap Library system. Then I put ones they have on hold. Turns out you can have 40 active holds, and check out 100 books. Go Library! 

I soon realized that I was hoarding all these great resources and wanted to find a way to share the collection. My neighborhood and our church immediately came to mind. Lightbulb! Kindness Book Corner was born. 

The shift to focus on kindness and compassion in my own heart was a helpful one for me.  I spent some time reading each book, absorbing the message and taking in beautiful illustrations. 

Something shifted in me. I can be the kindness I want to see in the world. I can breathe right here and simply be. Grounding to my current place and moment. It is helpful for me to live from this place instead of over-indexing on the larger scale and ambiguous future. 

This past Sunday I had about half the library books and another dozen or so books we own. I will bring the full set for the next Sunday or two. We will make sure they are available before and after church. You can take one for the week if you’d like, just write down the book title and your name on the provided sheet.  

I invite everyone to slowly spend time in a book or two as a mindfulness moment. Some of these books are breathtakingly gorgeous. 
​

---