“I believe you could talk to the wall,” someone laughingly said to me recently. Well, I thought she was laughing; maybe she was being unkind. I shared with her that I just had had a delightful chat with the new guard at the building entrance.

The next day I happened to read an article informing me that speaking to your house plants promotes healthy, strong growth. I wondered if they are in the same category as walls!

I admit I do talk to my plants, and often touch them as I walk past. Two Christmas poinsettias (one pictured below) continue to show off beautifully, and they’ve lived in this house for four months.

So I was not surprised when I researched a study done a few years ago by the Swedish IKEA company in relation to bullying:

Bully A Plant, a niche experiment conducted at a school in the United Arab Emirates leading up to Anti-Bullying Day on May 4, showed students how destructive negative comments can be. The DIY furniture giant set up two identical IKEA plants in the school, and for 30 days invited students to compliment one plant and bully the other. (Both plants received the same light, water, temperature etc. The only variable was in what they heard.)

The students’ comments were fed through speakers rigged into each enclosure. They were encouraged to record their words of praise, and to record their insults or send them via social media. A recording device then transmitted the messages to each plant.

The company admitted this wasn’t a real scientific experience, nevertheless, the results were phenomenal; one was healthy and thriving, and the other… completely drooped.

“It has helped children and their families understand the impact that words can have,” noted one IKEA CEO.

“He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend” (Proverbs 22:11).

Molecular biologists from Stanford University in California discovered five plant genes are activated when touched, supporting sturdier stock growth than in those plants left untouched.

“in a world where you can be anything, be kind.”  ― Clare Pooley

If our words and gentle touches sustain beauty and growth in living plants, how much more do humans response to loving acts of kindness in how we speak and what we do?

We need not touch a stranger to foster love, but we smile, we speak an affirming word, we pay it forward, we send a note, we let someone in front of us—so, so many tiny acts of kindness we can do daily.

There are many descriptive synonyms for the word kind… tender, soft, pleasant, sensitive, delicate, tactful, understanding, generous, tenderhearted, genial, courteous, thoughtful, considerate, caring, compassionate. Wow! How amazing if these words could describe our current world…

“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24).

In Ephesians 4:32, we are admonished to “be kind, compassionate, tenderhearted to each other”… in the Greek, the word tenderhearted translates into “a love coming from deep inside us”.  When we are filled with this kind of love, kindness is natural… a continual act of… “be becoming kind.”

Jesus added, “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you, too, are to love one another… and the world will know, you are Mine” (John 13:34-35).  A kind and tender heart, caring and generous, lies in sweet fellowship with Jesus.

… especially at home… .

Tom and I were in a local shop three or four years ago, and someone asked if we were newly married!  We will celebrate 60 years of marriage this Thursday, March 14, so we laughed,” Why would you ask that?”

You are just so kind to each other was the reply.

Our children have gifted us with a three day get away anniversary trip this week. In their planning the event, they have collected emails, cards and notes from our friends around the world. I can not wait  to open them, and as we do, we will remember the beauty of each friendship and the relationship shared on our journey. Because you never forget a kindness!

Every thoughtful word, every act of kindness from ones we love and those who have loved us will forever be a part of who we are. And we are full with thankfulness.

… kindness lasts a long time…