By, contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. There is no law against such things.(Galatians 5:22-23)
Once upon a time, I worked in tech support. It was about as much fun as you would imagine. For every one nice person you have on the phone, you have five who start yelling as soon as you pick up the phone.
Jim* was one of those. (*Jim is not his real name.) I usually don’t remember the people who yelled at me—you learn not to take it personally, and over time, the insults and disparaging remarks don’t stick with you. But Jim stuck with me, because Jim changed my life.
There are literally billions of nerves in the human body, and in less than five minutes, Jim had managed to get on every single one of mine. He was rude, constantly interrupting me, talking over my suggestions, and just generally making my job as difficult as possible. I had to bite my tongue and take a deep breath more than once.
After about five minutes, though, the call took a drastic change. Jim took a long pause, and then started crying. It took a minute for me to realize that yes, he was crying into the phone. I was silent, not knowing what to say, and that’s when he started telling me his story.
Both of his parents had recently died. His family was coming apart at the seams. He was unemployed and sinking beneath the weight his parents’ hospital bills. He felt absolutely alone. That’s when he told me he was going to kill himself.
I have never felt more helpless in my life as I did when Jim told me he was going to hang up and commit suicide. I had no idea what to do, so I asked him to keep talking. I spent a long time listening. Then I told him that while I could never truly understand what he was going through, Ido know what it feels like to lose someone you love very, very much. I know how it feels to look out on the horizon of your life and see only darkness. That feeling of loss, of emptiness—I get it.
I didn’t give him a chin-up, “silver lining to every cloud” speech, I just told him my truth, and listened to his. We talked for an hour, and once he had calmed down, I asked if he would please stay on the line while I connected him to someone who could help him get help for his depression. He said yes.
There is no Disney ending to this story. I don’t know what happened to Jim. It’s been about a year, and sometimes I wonder about him—if he’s alive, if he got help, if things are any better. I’ll never know, but I do know that Jim gave me something that day that I’ll never forget.
He taught me about the value of kindness. What if I had responded to Jim’s rudeness with equal rudeness? What if I had yelled at him, or blown him off? Some of the hardest people in the world to love are the ones who need it most. Jim gave me a stunning reminder of that, one I will never forget.
Kindness. Always kindness. Nobody ever regrets being kind. You will never regret having loved someone more than they “deserved.”
God always loves us more than we deserve. It’s up to us to try to do the same.(Katherine Harris)
-- Welcome to the new Trinity United Methodist Church's Daily Scripture Email system.Once upon a time, I worked in tech support. It was about as much fun as you would imagine. For every one nice person you have on the phone, you have five who start yelling as soon as you pick up the phone.
Jim* was one of those. (*Jim is not his real name.) I usually don’t remember the people who yelled at me—you learn not to take it personally, and over time, the insults and disparaging remarks don’t stick with you. But Jim stuck with me, because Jim changed my life.
There are literally billions of nerves in the human body, and in less than five minutes, Jim had managed to get on every single one of mine. He was rude, constantly interrupting me, talking over my suggestions, and just generally making my job as difficult as possible. I had to bite my tongue and take a deep breath more than once.
After about five minutes, though, the call took a drastic change. Jim took a long pause, and then started crying. It took a minute for me to realize that yes, he was crying into the phone. I was silent, not knowing what to say, and that’s when he started telling me his story.
Both of his parents had recently died. His family was coming apart at the seams. He was unemployed and sinking beneath the weight his parents’ hospital bills. He felt absolutely alone. That’s when he told me he was going to kill himself.
I have never felt more helpless in my life as I did when Jim told me he was going to hang up and commit suicide. I had no idea what to do, so I asked him to keep talking. I spent a long time listening. Then I told him that while I could never truly understand what he was going through, Ido know what it feels like to lose someone you love very, very much. I know how it feels to look out on the horizon of your life and see only darkness. That feeling of loss, of emptiness—I get it.
I didn’t give him a chin-up, “silver lining to every cloud” speech, I just told him my truth, and listened to his. We talked for an hour, and once he had calmed down, I asked if he would please stay on the line while I connected him to someone who could help him get help for his depression. He said yes.
There is no Disney ending to this story. I don’t know what happened to Jim. It’s been about a year, and sometimes I wonder about him—if he’s alive, if he got help, if things are any better. I’ll never know, but I do know that Jim gave me something that day that I’ll never forget.
He taught me about the value of kindness. What if I had responded to Jim’s rudeness with equal rudeness? What if I had yelled at him, or blown him off? Some of the hardest people in the world to love are the ones who need it most. Jim gave me a stunning reminder of that, one I will never forget.
Kindness. Always kindness. Nobody ever regrets being kind. You will never regret having loved someone more than they “deserved.”
God always loves us more than we deserve. It’s up to us to try to do the same.(Katherine Harris)
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