Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
1 John 4: 11 (ESV)
Lynda was already having a good week.
She had been at the beach for a few days with her God-children, great-God-children and their families. I had just arrived to spend a few days with her. She was catching up with people she loved and getting some rest as well. The only thing that could have made it even better for her was if her two granddaughters and their parents—her children—were with her.
She was having a good week.
And then Eden Jane shrieked at her “Hey! Lynda! Hey!”
And Lynda’s week got even better.
Eden Jane Brennan is the youngest—nearly two years old—of four children of our God-daughter and her husband. Eden had just been at the beach with Lynda and the rest of us. Eden and her mom had left the beach a few minutes earlier, making their way up to the pool area to rinse the beach sand off. While rinsing off, Lynda appeared on the stairs heading up off the beach and to the pool. Eden Jane saw her through a glass partition separating the stairs from the pool area.
“Hey! Lynda! Hey!”
It was a greeting usually saved for a moment when you hadn’t seen anyone for a long, long time. It had only been a few minutes since they had been with each other on the beach—yet there she was shrieking with excitement through the glass at her Lynda—“Hey!” Then she put her hand on the glass to high-five Lynda—her dear friend—who she was so excited to see once again.
Well you can guess how Lynda felt. She went from having a good week, to having a better one, simply through a great moment with a little girl. Actually the week was full of great moments like that one. But there behind the glass stood that precious child making sure Lynda knew how special she was, and excited someone was to see her.
“Hey! Lynda. Hey!”
Can you imagine what our days would be like if we started each of them with that kind of greeting? Can you imagine how someone else would feel—whether we knew them or not—if we gave them that kind of greeting? Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone gave and received that kind of greeting each day? Can you imagine how someone’s day would go if they knew that there was at least one other person who was excited to see them?
I can only imagine.
But I can imagine, and I think you can, as well. We can imagine, because we can remember when it happened to us before—and we remember how we felt. We can imagine how it feels. But how about others—can they imagine how it feels to have someone show them, tell them, how excited they are to see them?
Maybe that feeling can begin to form a ground swell in the world around us. Perhaps it can begin with us—today—with everyone we meet. Maybe, just maybe, after they leave us—with or without the shrieks—they’ll feel so good, so affirmed, and so appreciated, that they can’t help but pass it on to someone else.
Maybe that kind of world and that kind of joy needs to begin with you and with me.
All I know is that I’m still smiling this morning remembering that moment from a few days ago. Lynda is, too. I can still hear the shriek—“Hey! Lynda! Hey!”—and can still feel the joy in my heart which showered over Lynda that day.
Just something for us all to think about for today and the days ahead.
And maybe it really can start with us.
Hey! Why not!
In His Name—Scott
Copyright 2013. Scott L. Whitaker. All rights reserved.
