Pay It Forward

Pay it forward chains scare me. Not because I don't want to be nice, but it's the silent and hidden act of kindness that scares me. What if the person in front of me is actually really rude?  What if the person behind me orders $200 worth of stuff? 
​What is it about kindness that scares us?

It's not the kindness, per se. It's the idea of offering kindness to people we don't want to be kind to. Pay it forward chains are sweet, but they offer a facade of kindness. They don't force you to be kind to people you hate, people you're scared of, people who have not been kind to you: they just let you feel good inside for your own pleasure. 
I noticed this when I was walking along the sidewalk the other day. My neighborhood had an open market day where vendors and restaurants gathered in the middle of the streets to encourage the public to engage in their local community. Sitting on a park bench was a homeless man, simply sitting and watching people pass by. A few feet ahead, a woman yelled "good morning!" to me with the biggest smile on her face, and then crossed to the other side of the street to get away from the homeless man.
The choice of kindness. 
What makes the Gospel so radical? Is it love? Is it kindness? Is it compassion? 
It's unconditional kindness. We don't get to choose when we offer kindness, we are called to share unwaveringly the love of Jesus. So what does that mean? Pay it forward continues out of the car. It continues as you say good morning to the homeless man who sits on the bench outside of your favorite coffee shop, and continues as you open the door for that one coworker that really gets on your nerves. 
Paying it forward calls us to lay down our prejudice, our burdens, our hurt, and our fears in the name of perfect love: that love which casts out fear. 
In John's letter, he writes: 
"7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."
Love comes from God, and the God who calls us by name calls everyone by name, and is inviting us to pay it forward with our kindness and our compassion. Just as he has loved, we ought to love each other too.