Kindness — With a Warning Label
Today is National Inconvenience Yourself Day.
Did you know this was a thing? It’s the first I’ve heard about it. I went to Google to find out more.
Observed on the fourth Wednesday in February, “National Inconvenience Yourself Day” is dedicated to putting other people first and going out of your way to help. “Inconveniencing yourself isn’t fun…”
Let’s just pause there — inconveniencing yourself isn’t fun?
That feels like an important public service announcement.
Putting other people first? Not exactly a bucket-list item.
Going out of your way to help? Mildly disruptive to your personal brand.
Apparently, love has been categorized as a scheduling conflict, and we now need a nationally recognized observance to remind us to disrupt our comfort.
We have whole industries built around convenience. Two-day shipping. Drive-through everything. An app to avoid talking to actual humans.
And now, once a year, we’re reminded: “Hey… maybe try being slightly uncomfortable for someone else.”
I’m not throwing stones. I like convenience as much as anyone. I enjoy my coffee hot and my Wi-Fi fast. I’m not spiritually opposed to efficiency. I’m grateful for indoor plumbing and online banking.
But I do find it telling that kindness is now framed as something that interrupts our regularly scheduled programming — that acts of love need a designated day and a warning label.
WARNING: May require patience.
Side effects include compassion.
May cause minor disruption to personal comfort.
I suppose Lent has always been a season of holy interruption. It disrupts our autopilot, interrupts our habits, and subtly — sometimes not so subtly — asks questions:
What if your life is not primarily about minimizing inconvenience?
What if your faith is not about making everything smoother?
What if growth requires a little disruption?
As far as I can tell, Jesus never once said, “Whoever wants to follow me, optimize your schedule and, by all means, stay comfortable.”
He said things like:
Love your enemies.
Forgive.
Wash feet.
Take up your cross.
None of that is convenient.
But it is transformative.
Lent isn’t about spiritual misery. It’s about deeper love. The kind of love that interrupts your plans, costs you time, stretches your patience, and asks you to stay when you’d rather move on. The kind of love that doesn’t ask, “Is this gonna mess up my day?”
Come to think of it, maybe it’s a good thing to let yourself be inconvenienced for the sake of love.
Answer the call.
Stay in the conversation.
Let someone go ahead of you.
Sit with someone who’s grieving.
Choose patience when irritation would be easier.
Put your phone down.
Forgive.
Start over.
For sure, it may cost you comfort. But it might just grow your soul.
In a world engineered for convenience, Lent trains us in love — the kind of love that has a way of rearranging your life.
Much love,
Pastor Gregg
