Kind Words That Fit Just Right
I especially love the comforting words of Jesus:
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
He always knows exactly what we need. His words fit just right.
Ray recently told our church that the Greek meaning for the word easy in “My yoke is easy” means “kind.” Jesus’ yoke is kind.
I don’t know much about yokes. My farm experience is limited. One of my earliest memories is getting my finger bitten by one of the backyard chickens we had before we moved from the country to Ashland City when I was almost four.
At home in the country
At home in town
I used to be around horses occasionally because my Uncle Joel loved them so much, and I had two childhood friends who had ponies.
Granny and Granddaddy had chickens in their backyard inside the town of Springfield. We went there almost every Sunday afternoon. Granddaddy kept a cow in a barn across the street. They always had what I called “cow’s milk,” and I didn’t like it. I went to visit the cow with Granddaddy, but I never was able to get more than a drop of milk out of her.
At Granny and Granddaddy’s house
I preferred milk from Daddy Leland’s store.
Mother, my brother Steve, and me at Daddy Leland’s store
When our family moved to the country in 2004, we tried chickens, and Mary Evelyn bought two cantankerous goats. They were master escape artists. Those experiments were short-lived.
There you have it, the sum total of my animal husbandry experience and my disclaimer about knowing what I am talking about when I talk about a yoke. I have seen a few yokes from time to time. Here are two from the home of Almanzo Wilder in Malone, New York. In this first picture, Ray tries on a yoke on display there for people to try.
This one hangs in the Wilder barn that has been reconstructed according to Almanzo’s description Laura used in writing Farmer Boy. It represents the one that Almanzo’s father gave him when he gave Almanzo his own pair of young oxen.
As I understand it, a good yoke fits its wearer just right so that it doesn’t chafe its skin or otherwise cause pain. Even animals need a yoke that is kind.
When we follow Jesus, His yoke fits our hearts, souls, and minds perfectly. Following His teachings even protects us from the ill-effects that some sins create in our bodies. Jesus’ yoke is indeed kind.
Likewise, every person we come in contact with needs our kindness, those who live in our homes and those we encounter wherever we go. Being kind is especially hard when someone has been unkind to us. That is one reason it is hard to teach children to be kind. They have such a strong sense of justice—when they are the ones who have been wronged, at least. Over time we can teach them to be more and more like their Father in heaven Who is kind to all of us who have been unkind to Him.
But when the kindness of God our Savior
and His love for mankind appeared,
He saved us, not on the basis of deeds
which we have done in righteousness,
but according to His mercy,
by the washing of regeneration
and renewing by the Holy Spirit . . .
Titus 3:4-5
Each of us needs to ask ourselves: Are my words kind? Do my words do good to other people? I have shared before about the time I heard a mother in a public place angrily raise her voice to say to her child, “Kindness!” When it comes to kindness with our words, kind words are ones that fit just right. The way we say them needs to fit just right, too.
God’s Word teaches us about kindness.
Be kind to one another,
tender-hearted, forgiving each other,
just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Ephesians 4:32
His Word has one verse about kindness that is written specifically with us mamas in mind:
She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
Proverbs 31:26