ARE YOU TIRED OF KINDNESS?

We humans have a natural tendency to drift toward evil. It’s part of our fallen nature — this inclination to stray from what we were created to be. Left to ourselves, we are naturally pulled away from goodness.

What is truly difficult is to change, day by day, into our best selves — into the likeness of God; to grow in love, joy, peace, kindness, patience, gentleness, and self-control.

But walking toward goodness is like climbing a hill. It’s like going through the narrow gate. It’s choosing the road that few are willing to take. It’s like swimming against the current. It’s like the journey of the salmon who must swim upstream to die in the place where it was born.

The clearest evidence of our natural ability to worsen can be seen in children. Yes — beautiful, pure, spontaneous, forgiving, open, full of light — but it doesn’t take long for them to absorb influences that distort the divine beauty they once had.

Another powerful evidence is the negative transformation of a saint. That person we once knew as humble, simple, teachable, joyful in the faith, loving toward the little ones, patient, God-fearing, pure-hearted, free from lust, careful not to offend, slow to anger, quick to forgive, always grateful — yes, someone who remembered how much grace they had received, how undeserved the gift of faith was, how it had been planted in them against their natural inclinations —But with time, and after being around the sacred for long enough, or after offering many services supposedly for God or others, this person begins to feel entitled. Slowly they become the owner of themselves, of their rights, of their “truth.” They turn into the boss of their own life — demanding, impatient, arrogant, lacking in small compassions (perhaps keeping only the grand ones), careless in their dealings with others. They start making exceptions for themselves, indulging in things they once considered unacceptable. And little by little — without even realizing it — they become disfigured.Yes, without seeing their own ugliness. Especially if they once had a strong walk with God — which now ironically serves as a justification for not walking in the love they were called to manifest.

Jesus said that this kind of transformation would happen in many because of the sense of delay in His return. But we can also interpret this “delay” as the passing of time in one’s spiritual journey — or the disappointment when we don’t see the fruits of the good we hoped for, or the weariness that comes from loving tirelessly… like trying to dry ice, with no reward and no rest.It can also happen when we stop renewing our love — when we grow too used to the holy, or begin to deceive ourselves that we already understand the Gospel “well enough.”

That’s why Paul warns us: “Do not grow weary in doing good to all people.”

Yes — what saves us from this natural drift (which eventually hits every saint, one way or another, at some point in life) is the non-selective challenge to always do good to everyone.

If not, we start choosing moments, people, and situations to show kindness — and for everyone else, we grow cold. Especially toward the annoying ones, the careless, the ones who always trip, the ones who disturb us — we stop being to them what we try to be to our “chosen ones.”

I believe what I say because I know it to be true. I’ve seen these subtleties in myself.

For over 20 years, my heart didn’t waver in kindness, patience, humility, or brokenness toward others. Until... I got tired.Tired of doing good without seeing results.Exhausted by people who never change.Discouraged that kindness didn’t seem to transform others.And so — slowly — without noticing, I began to love selectively. To show kindness only to those I liked. To live a filtered virtue.And worse — I began to accept worldly ideas as the only way to deal with certain people and situations.Until I realized I had drifted away from the call of love and from my true vocation.

So how do you return to the beginning?

It starts by recognizing the shift in your heart.Then surrendering your rights, your reasons, your desire to prove yourself right.You must let go of your pity for your lonely path.And above all, you must turn against yourself — so that what Paul said becomes true in you:“So that we do not do what we want.”

Spiritual maturity that isn’t renewed by humility and a broken heart in doing good only creates selectively kind people — those who walk the smooth path of curated virtue, practicing it only toward pre-selected people.And that is nothing but hypocrisy.

In all of this, I learned — from Scripture and from my father — that sometimes we must be still.Endure some things in silence.And when we must speak, let it be with gentleness and humility — even if we believe we have the right.

But I know how subtle this drift is.And worse — how hard it is to detect in ourselves once it settles into a comfortable partnership with our filtered virtues… and with the “rights” we think we’ve earned from doing good all alone.

That’s why we must check our hearts constantly — not just once a day, but moment by moment — because one single exception can reopen the door to this hidden corruption.

So: Let us not grow weary of doing good to all people.

Because only through that, our salvation grows in us.And never forget — we must also protect our joy, our hope in the glory of God.Otherwise, the weight of exhaustion will take over and corrupt us — and we won’t even feel it happening.

In Him,

In whom the journey has no vacations,

Though it must be walked in rest.