Recently a friend of mine did a kind thing for me. This is an individual who I've done some business with and is a fellow church goer who I am interacting with fairly frequently on Facebook, and getting to know. She came up to me at church one day and handed me a journal with the word HOPE on it. She said she had been at a local craft store, and thought of me when she saw it. She knew that I collected things with the word HOPE on them.

I was touched, primarily because it wasn't for an occasion like a birthday or even Christmas (although it was in December.) It was nice to know I was thought of in someone's everyday errands and that she made the effort to follow through on that prompting to care for me in that way.

That, my friends, is a demonstration of kindness.

As the Holy Spirit fills us more and more, our thoughts turn to others instead of ourselves. It will become easier to think of kind things to do to demonstrate kindness. Sometimes we will even do something unanimously, like leave money for the next person's meal/coffee, or leave a close parking space for someone else to take, or praise  something about someone to their spouse, etc.

Goodness (or righteousness) is another fruit mentioned in this list. What do you think of when someone is described as a "good person?" Goodness means different things to different people, and no one is good all the time (which is why we need a Savior.) When the Holy Spirit lives in us, our core soul is filled with good. Our actions begin to mirror our beliefs more and more.

The day I wrote this, I had gotten involved in a Facebook discussion/debate. I had made a statement and then clarified it, and a stranger accused me of changing my position before someone could pin me on it. That really frustrated me for awhile. Why? Because I did not want to appear to be dishonest or fickle in my views and I felt misunderstood (my position was the same...I think there was just some misinterpretation going on.) Well, goodness is like integrity...a rightness where values and actions complement each other.

We cannot be good in ourselves. That's why this is part of fruit of the Spirit. Cultivating that relationship leads to evidence of goodness/righteousness and kind acts...not for our own benefit or pride, but because it's part of who we really are, and are becoming.  And when goodness lives in our hearts, kindness, joy and love naturally show. Do you see how the fruits are interconnected?