"But the fruit of the Spirit is...KINDNESS"

The fifth fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians is...Kindness. The contributor of this week's writing is my friend Cindy Dagnan. She is my punctual one...having this done when asked to for a couple of weeks now. Sadly, I am just now getting this posted!

I met Cindy for the first time last fall at a womens' retreat in Thayer, KS. I had heard about her gifts in speaking and writing, so I was very excited to be able to go and listen to her. And even just after hearing her speak two different times, I will say she's one of the best! God truly has blessed her with this ability to be used by Him to speak to our hearts...my heart. Cindy has been through a lot in her life, but she's remained faithful to our God. She speaks with such openness, honesty, and compassion. I can tell her heart's desire is for all women everywhere to fully grasp just how much our God loves us. Her heart is good, her heart is pure. Though I just met her last fall, I have already emailed her a few times now, pricking her brain about some things. I figured with daughter #3 coming for us, who better to ask than Cindy, who is the mother of FOUR daughters? I'd say she has something to offer there! :)

Here's some more facts about Cindy that I'd like to share with you:
-besides being a Christ follower, a wife, and a mom, she's also...an author, a speaker, and a chocolate lover;
-she has spoken at national conferences, retreats, womens' functions, and marriage seminars (and I believe has even spoken with her husband concerning marriage);
-she has written articles for Today's Christian Women and Focus on the Family;
-she has written 5 books (her most recent book is Hot Chocolate for Couples...you can find the others on her website);
-she also has a newsletter that you can subscribe to.

To read and learn more about Cindy, please check out her "Wannabe Woman" blog at:
www.cindydagnan.com


Cindy, it was my privilege to go and hear you speak about what God layed on your heart to tell us that beautiful fall evening. Thank you for your willingess to be used by God in this way. Wanna know a little secret? I get just a little envious when I hear people like you speak. This has always been a passion of mine, but never feel "good enough". I guess I'm one of those "wanna-be women"! ;)

Name: Cindy Siglar Dagnan
Hometown: St. Louis, MO
Married to: One amazing man, Greg Dagnan
Family: Greg and Cindy have 4 beautiful daughters
Current Living: Webb City, MO
Hobbies: "I love Krispy Kremes, books, and lightning bugs!"


And now, let's hear from Cindy...


Kindness
Cindy Sigler Dagnan

"I saw it perched on the edge of the bookshelf next to my tattered, but well-loved pink teddy bear with the navy blue paws, nearly every day of my growing up years. A thin hardcover book with a mint green cover and faintly pastel pen & ink drawings: Kindness Is…

I recall a few of its admonitions. “Kindness is letting your little brother hold the new baby first.” “Kindness is pushing the smaller ones on the swing.” “Kindness is putting others first.”

We probably don’t think much about kindness as a word these days. It’s relegated to one of the listed fruit produced in us by the Holy Spirit. It’s a lovely phrase from novels of long ago, “Would you do me the kindness of…”

We long to love. We pray reluctantly for patience. We thrive on joy; whimper about faithfulness and search for peace. Kindness gets lost in the endless list of “should bes.” Frankly, it doesn’t seem quite as important, quite as—ahem—spiritual.

There are several words in the New Testament Greek Lexicon which can be used for kindness or goodness. My favorites are agathosune [pronounced ag-ath-o-soo-nay], meaning “uprightness of heart and life, goodness, kindness” and chrestotes, meaning “moral goodness, kindness, integrity.”

Now that we’ve forayed for an entire paragraph into a baby Greek lesson, perhaps it seems a bit more relevant. :) I’m thinking it should be more than that – it’s downright daunting! Why? Because to be perfectly honest, most of us put on a respectable front, but basically, we really want what we want. [I like my favorite restaurant. I want the heat up when I’m cold and the air down when I’m hot. I want to eat the last Krispy Kreme in the sack. I really, really like chick flicks and sometimes I’d rather be left alone without anybody needing me.] We just want to look like self-sacrificing, kind “good girls.”

While raising our four daughters, I frequently find myself saying [pleading, beseeching even], “Girls! Be kind to each other.” What do we mean when we say that? I suppose we can mean, “Be nice.” And yet, that sounds so innocuous. I vote that we dig a bit more deeply. Although the verse that defines kindness in one of the simplest ways doesn’t even use the word, I think the words we’ve come to call The Golden Rule sum it up best: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Kindness then, is close cousins with compassion and it snuggles up next to goodness with a bit of basic manners swirled in, like colorful sprinkles flowing down the top of an ice cream sundae. Naturally, kindness lives in the neighborhood of love. It means putting ourselves in another’s place and truly trying to experience life from their perspective.

Having kindness as a priority means a huge shift in focus, from self-centered to others-focused. Sigh. See? Not as easy as it looked. And, having graduated from my mint green children’s book, what might kindness look like, all grown up?

Kindness means noticing another’s needs and reaching out first, sometimes at cost to ourselves.

Kindness is a Snickers bar and a bottle of water for the bell ringers at Christmas time. It’s a copy of the New Testament together with a coupon for a McDonald’s hamburger for the guy holding a cardboard sign at the intersection of grace and ordinary.

Kindness means reading one more story, extending grace and having the courage to say “no” sometimes, even if it means our kids don’t like us right then.

Kindness means not volunteering our spouse for something without first consulting them and occasionally encouraging them not to anything, but just to relax.

Kindness is a word aptly spoken, an encouraging smile, a scripture and a witty line or two arriving in the mail.

Kindness is a meal after the new baby, a casserole during recovery from surgery and an “I’m sorry you have cancer” cheesecake.

Kindness brings flowers to the widow, an offer of help to the overwhelmed mom and a speech of gratitude to our hardworking husbands.

Kindness notices what our children do right instead of endlessly harping on what they’ve forgotten to do.

Kindness is the emotional equivalent of flannel jammies and hot cocoa on a snowy morning or the sweet kiss of icy lemonade on a sweltering July afternoon.

Kindness is letting someone in line ahead of you, not laying on the horn in the face of someone’s traffic stupidity, and being genuinely nice to the woman who drives you nuts at Thursday morning Bible study.

Kindness is a way of life. It is treating people as though they are everything, since they are everything to the One who made them."


Thank you for your thoughts Cindy! Now everyone else, go check out her website:
www.cindydagnan.com