One of the ways God teaches me is through good examples of bad examples.

A while back, I was at the doctor’s office for an appointment. I sat alone in the waiting room with a mask on my face. The nurse who signed me in politely asked me to keep it on. Before long, an older gentlemen wearing a mask came slowly walking in and toward the front desk. As he approached, this same sweet nurse sitting at the desk said cheerfully, “I really like your mask!”

I couldn’t make out everything that was said next, but I could tell from the few words that I caught (like media, politics, and a handful of four letter words) that the older gentleman wasn’t very happy about the mask. He was definitely not happy about having to wear that mask to this appointment, and was making sure she knew of his extreme displeasure.

That sweet woman sat there for what felt like a full 60 seconds with the brightest smiling eyes and a huge smile shape on her mask while this fellow upended his barrel of disdain for what covered his face. Once he had to take a second to breathe, she simply asked “Do you know what your mask says?”

He paused and slowly shook his head.

She gave a bit of a laugh and said, “Be Kind.”

A generous portion of eternity seemed to slowly creep by as the curmudgeon stood there with what I could only imagine was an utterly stunned look in his eyes. Finally, the nurse reached out to hand him a clipboard. With a sweet smile and compassion in her voice, she kindly asked him to fill it out. Her grumpy friend with a newly paralyzed tongue shuffled himself around and walked to the furthest chair from her desk and sat quietly.

I turned and looked back to the nurse, thankful that my laughing face was covered in a mask. As soon as our eyes met, she said in a low but clear voice, “I love that guy, he’s so much fun.”

A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back. ~ Proverbs 29:11

Sometimes I wonder what God is trying to teach me. Other times…well, it seems pretty clear.

Grace to you,
chris