Editor’s note – The author writes about a moment most of us recognize: the quiet exhaustion that creeps in when kindness toward someone seems to go nowhere. She’s honest about where her own patience had worn thin, and that honesty is what makes her husband’s small act of obedience land so hard. We’re running this piece because it’s a plain reminder that faithfulness in small things isn’t contingent on a guaranteed outcome. Watch for how she ties an ordinary driveway conversation to a command believers are prone to quietly set aside.
My husband and I have always tried to be friendly with our neighbors.
Some of them are friendly right back. We wave, smile, stop and talk, and have gotten to know each other a little over time. Then there are others we’ve tried to be friendly with who haven’t really reciprocated.
One family across the street has been particularly difficult to get to know. We’ve waved, smiled, and tried to be friendly when we see them outside, but for whatever reason, they have mostly kept their distance.
I don’t know why, and I don’t want to assume.
I’ve kept trying to be kind, but if I’m being truthful, I think part of me had started to give up on the idea that we’d ever get to know them.
Then something happened yesterday that convicted me.
He Just Walked Across the Street
It was a beautiful fall day, so I had the windows open while I was sitting inside working on my laptop. My husband had just gotten home from work and parked his truck in our driveway. Our neighbor across the street was outside working on his car.
I looked out the window and suddenly saw my husband walking across the street. For a second, I was almost stunned. Wait. What’s happening here?
He walked right over to our neighbor and started talking to him.
I could hear some of what they were saying through the open window. My husband asked about the neighbor’s father, who lives nearby and had recently been in a motorcycle accident.
We don’t know all the details, but we knew he had been injured. My husband asked how he was doing, and thankfully, it sounds like he’s recovering.
Then my husband took the conversation one step further. He asked our neighbor if it would be okay if the two of us prayed for his father. Our neighbor said yes.
It may seem like a small interaction, but sitting inside listening, I was struck by what had just happened. My husband later told me that he felt led by God to walk across the street and talk to him.
And he listened.
Editor’s note – It’s worth noticing what she highlights here: her husband didn’t rehearse a script or wait for the ideal setup. He simply felt prompted and acted on it before overthinking could talk him out of it. Obedience in the moment, more than eloquence, is usually what God asks of us.
Kindness Doesn’t Require a Certain Response
That moment convicted me because I realized I had started allowing their previous responses to determine how much effort I was willing to make. I wasn’t planning to become unfriendly. I wasn’t angry with them. But somewhere along the way, I think I started telling myself, “Well, we’ve tried.”
My husband reminded me that we don’t necessarily get to decide when it’s time to stop showing someone kindness. Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”
We don’t always know what someone else is going through. We don’t know why a person may seem distant. We don’t know what experiences they’ve had, what they’re carrying privately, or why they may not respond the way we expect. And kindness shouldn’t be something we offer only when we know it will be returned.
That’s something I needed to be reminded of.
If I smile at someone and they don’t smile back, I can still smile the next time. If I wave and they don’t wave back, I can still be friendly. If an attempt at conversation doesn’t go anywhere, that doesn’t necessarily mean I should decide there will never be another opportunity.
Maybe nothing changes. Or maybe one day something does. Yesterday, something changed. There was a conversation. Someone showed concern for their father. And they gave us permission to pray for him.
I don’t know what will come from that interaction, and I don’t need to know. Our responsibility is to be faithful with the opportunities God gives us.
Editor’s note – Many of us quietly downgrade our effort based on someone else’s silence, without ever admitting that’s what we’re doing. Galatians 6:9 doesn’t attach a clause about how long we’re owed results before we’re allowed to stop. That’s a hard word, and a needed one.
Keep Being the Light
Jesus tells His followers in Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world.” A few verses later, He says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Being a light doesn’t always mean doing something dramatic. Sometimes it may look like walking across the street. Sometimes it’s asking someone how their father is doing. Sometimes it’s offering to pray. Sometimes it’s continuing to smile at someone who hasn’t smiled back yet.
We never know what God may be doing in another person’s heart.
Maybe a lot of ice has built up in a relationship, and one simple interaction begins to melt a little of it. Maybe someone isn’t ready to talk about God, but they’re willing to let you pray for someone they love.
That’s an opening to show them genuine care without expecting anything in return. I don’t want to force conversations or make people uncomfortable. I don’t believe sharing God’s love means we ignore people’s boundaries.
But I also don’t want fear of rejection — or a history of someone not responding — to keep me from being kind when God gives me another opportunity.
I’m thankful my husband didn’t allow that to stop him yesterday. I’m thankful he walked across the street. I’m thankful he asked about our neighbor’s father. I’m thankful he offered prayer. And I’m thankful God used that moment to remind me that I can keep trying too.
We don’t control whether someone receives our kindness. We don’t control whether a relationship ever becomes deeper. And we certainly can’t control whether someone eventually chooses to turn to God.
But we can keep loving people.
We can keep praying. We can keep looking for opportunities to share the hope of the gospel. And we can keep being a light wherever God has placed us.
Maybe the person who seems completely closed off today will be willing to talk tomorrow. We don’t know.
Don’t give up on showing kindness simply because you haven’t seen a response yet.
Have you ever kept showing kindness to someone and eventually seen their walls come down? Did it open the door to a deeper relationship or an opportunity to share your faith?
A Word from the Editor
Kindness that depends on reciprocity isn’t really kindness yet; it’s a transaction waiting to be confirmed. Scripture calls us to something steadier than that – to keep sowing even into soil that looks unresponsive, trusting God with the harvest and the timing. The neighbor across the street may still keep his distance tomorrow. That’s not the author’s call to make, and it isn’t ours either.
Salvation – Eternal Life in Less Than 150 Words
Distributed by – BCWorldview.org
Editor Comment: Thank you for such a tender reminder that kindness is worth persisting in, even when it seems to go unanswered.
This article appeared on Medium and is reprinted with modifications and by permission.