![\"man](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/507\/2015\/06\/man-thinking.jpeg\")
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One of my favorite comedians is Jeff Foxworthy. His \u201cYou might be a redneck if\u2026\u201d<\/em> jokes hit close to home because I grew up in Kentucky (home of many proud rednecks). We can all laugh at stuff like, \u201cIf you walk your kid to elementary school because you\u2019re in the same grade, if you family tree doesn\u2019t have any branches, if you\u2019ve ever stared at a can of orange juice because it said \u2018concentrate\u2019, you might be a redneck!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n On a more serious level, I think we need to have a litmus test of knowing when \u201cyou might not be a nice person if\u2026\u201d<\/em>. Since I firmly believe that kindness isn\u2019t a personality trait; it\u2019s a choice we must all make daily regardless of our mood or our circumstance<\/strong>. Kindness validates the intrinsic and eternal value of every human being and it\u2019s also a consistent command in the Bible with passages like, \u201cBe\u00a0kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you<\/em>.\u201d (Ephesians 4:32)<\/p>\n I\u2019ve noticed that most of us have BLIND SPOTS to our own rudeness and selfishness. In other words, most people who aren\u2019t very nice don\u2019t realize that they\u2019re not very nice. This post isn\u2019t intended to cast judgment, but rather as a simple wakeup call for all of us to be more intentional about our words and our actions.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s all strive to be nice people. The world has plenty of jerks already.<\/strong><\/p>\n You might not (currently) be a very nice person if\u2026<\/p>\n 1. You\u2019re nice to the people around your table while you\u2019re eating at a restaurant but you\u2019re rude or demanding to the server.<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re nice to your friends or co-workers while you\u2019re eating, but you\u2019re not nice to the server, then you\u2019re not a nice person. Kindness is in its purest form when we give it to those who aren\u2019t in a position to repay us. When you\u2019re nice to your co-workers, it\u2019s just \u201cnetworking,\u201d but when you\u2019re nice to to those who are serving you, it\u2019s real kindness.<\/p>\n 2. You ask people, \u201chow are you doing?<\/em>\u201d but then never wait to hear their response.<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been guilty of this one much more than I\u2019d like to admit. In our society\u2019s definition of politeness, we can get by with asking \u2018how are you doing?\u2019 with having to care much about the person\u2019s response, but genuine kindness and compassion compels us to care and to listen.<\/p>\n 3. You cut people off in traffic, but rarely let people in front of you in traffic.<\/strong><\/p>\n This one doesn\u2019t need much explanation if you do this, you\u2019re not a nice driver. If you do this and also never use a turning signal, you probably need to just stop driving altogether.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0You have a full-blown, toddler-style meltdown when the internet stops working.<\/strong><\/p>\n I think I\u2019ve actually done this one a time or two. How we act when the internet stops working says a lot about our character, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n There are obviously much worse things in life than the four on this list, and this post isn\u2019t actually intended to divide up society into \u201cnice people\u201d and \u201cjerks,\u201d because ALL of us have moments where we\u2019re not showing kindness. Let\u2019s resolve to being more intentional about the words we say and our daily actions. Let\u2019s bring more kindness into our workplaces, our homes and the world around us. The simple little things can make a big difference!<\/p>\n If this post encouraged you, please share it using the links below so we can encourage others too!<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of my favorite comedians is Jeff Foxworthy. His \u201cYou might be a redneck if\u2026\u201d jokes hit close to home because I grew up in Kentucky (home of many proud rednecks). We can all laugh at stuff like, \u201cIf you walk your kid to elementary school because you\u2019re in the same grade, if you family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life-tools"],"yoast_head":"\n