...This reminds me of a conversation I had recently with a friend. We were discussing what it is we pray for and she suddenly dropped a conversational bombshell.
'Every day', she said, 'I pray to be nice'.
You might think, well, what's wrong with that? But 'nice' to me... is what Kyrptonite is to Superman. It's a terrible word. An insipid, pastel-coloured emotion, laden with shoulds and oughts and good intentions and utterly devoid of passion.
However, when I suggested as much to this friend, she looked at me aghast. Now, to be fair, I could have been a little more sensitive. I didn't help matters by shouting 'You pray to be NICE? WHY? It's not an adjective, it's a biscuit. You're not nice! You'll never be nice! If you turn 'nice', our friendship is OVER'.
No-one is nice in the bible. I am so grateful my wife is not nice!
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Hi Glen,
I affirm your dislike of the word 'nice'. Someone can be 'nice' to you but actually causing you harm. eg. the nice thing to say to someone who says 'I was clipping my toenails this week so couldn't come to church' is 'oh, I understand that sometimes these important things get you tied up' but the kind thing to say would be 'WHAT? How long were they? It took you all morning to cut them? What on earth are you growing down there that takes that long to cut? Did you need an angle grinder? Prioritise your spiritual wellbeing dude!'. Kind is better than nice.
Heather Keith! Very nice to hear from you. No wait, not nice. Lovely. Scratch that. Umm encouraging? Ahhh... anyway - I'm glad you commented :)
I'm preaching on "teaching and admonishing one another" (Col 3:17) on Sunday. Doesn't come naturally. We'd rather 'play nice'.
Hope you and Simon are well?
Being nice is overrated.
Being loving is what we ought strive to be.
And love is not an emotion. It is a role we pick up and play.