What a wonderful saying “throw kindness like confetti” is and if everyone did this, what a better world we would live in.

In our fast-moving, modern day existence, it is easy to lose your temper when you are stressed and snap someone’s head off, than it is to hold your tongue or say a kind word. The world has become a self-centred, go-getting place, where few people put others first, but how pleasant it would be if everyone was kinder to each other.

As proverbs 15:1 says: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

It is so easy to bitch about others, to hit back when people are unkind to you or gossip behind their backs. As a teenager, I remember being scared to say anything for fear of what my peers would think of me. But “God is love” and Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians in 4:32, “Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.”

How many times do you think something nice about someone but keep it to yourself? A few years ago, I felt led to start telling people what I was thinking about them when a nice thought came into my head and it is something I continue to practice. It makes my day to see people’s faces light up, even those of strangers, when I tell them “I love your hair”, “that colour really suits you” or “you look great in that outfit.” Don’t get me wrong; I am far from perfect. I have still to make the move to buy a stranger a drink or pay for another’s dinner bill, but then I am “a work in progress.”

Kindness doesn’t just have to be verbal, it can be physical or you can do acts of kindness. For example, wouldn’t we cope better with the current refugee crisis in Europe if people considered what it would be like to be in their shoes and acted accordingly? Earlier this week, the EU arranged to allocate 300million euros (£233m or $325m) to help member states handle the migration situation in their countries, but that isn’t going to go far when you consider that 2,000 new migrants are registered in Greece alone, each day and that so far to date (9.3.16) more than 125,000 refugees have landed on Greek shores. We all need to act fast and play our part, no matter how small.

In my area, Welcome Refugees Colchester (http://welcometocolchester.org) is an umbrella organisation of faith groups, civic authorities and student societies who are concerned about human rights and are aiming to help refugees settle in the locality. They are raising money and collecting household goods to help improve the migrants’ situations. There must be similar organisations near you? Why not put your faith into action and show the love of God by joining them, or contributing, in whatever way you possibly can.

American author, poet and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou said, “At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel”.

Make people remember you and help someone feel good today by throwing them “kindness like confetti”!