As I pulled into my parking space for an early foot doctor appointment, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. “I spied with my little eye” a pretty and petite lady with silver hair as sparkly as her silver sneakers. Struggling to strap on my giant walking boot long enough to hobble into the building, just so they could take it off again, I watched carefully as the lady walked up to each person approaching the entrance of the medical center. I could not imagine what she was up to but I was pretty sure I wanted to avoid her.
I limped the long way to the front door and tried to time my entry for when she was occupied talking with others. I failed. With all the skill of an Australian cattle dog she cut me away from the herd with extraordinary ease. Gathering my courage I was readying myself to say “no” to whatever she was selling. It turns out she was not really selling anything … she simply gave me a flat round glass piece with a blue happy face stuck to it and told me to have a good day. Well, that took the wind out of my refusal! I stowed the happy face in my pocket, thanked her, and moved on.
I forgot all about the happy little glass piece until I arrived home later that day. As I emptied the contents of my pockets on the kitchen counter, the little blue happy face bounced out along with the assorted quarters, dimes, and pennies.
Selecting my new blue smiling friend from among the scattered coins to examine it more closely, I wondered what caused the silver lady to get up early in the morning to wish patients a good day. What was her story? Had she also been injured and knew the challenges? Was she working through the loss of her spouse and channeling her energy into encouraging people? She never appeared in the parking lot during my appointment times again so I will likely never know. I wish I could sit with her and hear her story. She’ll never know that her small gesture changed my life. I keep the blue happy face on my kitchen counter where I lay my keys so I see it every day and think about her simple gift to a stranger. She made me feel loved with no agenda. Perhaps she was simply obeying God’s word when he said, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” – John 15:12 (ESV)
I may need to buy some small round glass pieces and happy faces to spread God’s love too!
Simple Faith 