Ahhhh…where do I begin with tonight’s blog post? My career has taken me to many places in a short time and there is so much more of this world left to explore. Tonight I am in Washington, DC and what a lovely little place this is. I have met some very nice people here and while I thought Raleigh, NC was a diverse city…Washington, DC and Arlington, VA have my home city beat!
I met a family today on one of my flights who had just adopted an infant from Japan. They were a lovely family and I had a nice conversation with them. I was thinking to myself what awesome people they were to make such a sacrifice to give to another child. I watched as the mother loved on the baby, cradled it, comforted it and then I thought to myself ‘Wow…that is what an unconditional love looks like as well”. Here was two adults who wanted to bring a child into their home and give them all the love and attention they were already giving other children in their home. This was her second marriage, her husbands first and while she had kids from her previous marriage, she was unable to carry a child due to medical reasons. I got so much happiness just talking to them and listening to their journey of the adoption. At the end of the flight, she said to me from one mother to another….”I will be praying for you!!” I don’t know if I will ever see them again but for a brief moment, we connected and that was pretty cool.
When I walked over to the Pentagon City Mall, I ordered a salad at this cool new place I discovered called Salad Creations. I was searching for a place to sit down when an older gentleman probably in his late 60’s motioned me to take a seat at the end of a long set of tables pushed together. I figured….why not? The eating area was packed full of people and he was nice enough to share the end of the table. After all, I just needed one seat. Now, you know me…I am going to talk to a sign post if it will talk back to me so yeah, you guessed it…we struck up a conversation. He introduced himself as Donald, stood up and shook my hand as he begun to tell me how he works for the Metro line here and how much he loves his job. He says he enjoys directing people to the neatest places in the Arlington and DC area. I didn’t even have to ask him where I should go…he freely gave me some advice on what places I could go see when I have down time. He said the hours aren’t bad but he does it so his wife doesn’t have to work and when he spoke of her, his eyes lit up like diamonds…not to mention the big ole’ smile that come across his face. Upon finishing his dinner and going back to work on the Metro, he gave me a specific type of Metro card he had in his pocket. The instructions were simple…just register the card online and it will give me some discounts as I use this as mode of travel while I am based here in DC. What a kind and thoughtful gesture from this gentleman! We shook hands again, said goodbyes and ‘God bless you, have a great evening’ was the closing to our conversation.
I sat there trying to finish my dinner and I couldn’t help but think about how we all have the ability to just be kind. Actually, not only the ability but the choice to be kind!! Why does society have to make it seem like such a task to reach out to others? This is not how God designed us. It was not His plan for us at all. His plan was for us to be kind to one another, to love thy neighbor. I don’t care if you live thousands of miles away from each other, have separate beliefs or whatever makes us all different…we are still brothers and sisters in Christ AND neighbors. How sad we let opportunities pass us by to be so kind.
My momma jokes with me and says ‘Don’t talk to strangers’. Yes, at my age she is still being a mom and while I know she worries about me being from city to city with my career, she also knows I am going to talk to someone…haha. She also knows I can hold my own in any situation and sometimes I think that gives her comfort. When I see people, I don’t just see the color of their skin or what type of clothes they have on or even their nationality. I see a person created by God. They have feelings, they have a desire to have happiness just like anyone else. I just don’t see the need to not be nice….what is the payoff in the end? It sure doesn’t look pretty and let me tell ya…I like to look pretty! We all do and when you exercise kindness, love, compassion then all that beauty shines through.
I know there are some troubled people in this world and while I can’t do anything about that other than pray about it, I do find it as something not to focus on. Yeah, you have the choice to be cautious and use your smarts that God gave you. Being kind doesn’t constitute being careless so of course you have to know your boundaries. For example, as a woman I would not go to an area where I feel it could be unsafe for me to be alone but in an area where I feel my surroundings are safe, then I don’t mind talking to others and striking up conversations. That thing called common sense kicks in….ya know what I mean? Okay…perfect 😉
With all this being said, let me share one of the most important things I have learned in life. It does not matter to me what your religious beliefs are, where you are from or what your lifestyle is like. I may not agree with some of the things that I see and hear but I do stand strong when I say I will not judge you for who you are. You will deal with those things in your own time between you and God. I am merely here to show you how happiness can shine through you when you have the love of Jesus Christ in your heart. I have been guilty of being a bit judgemental in the past before I started really studying God’s word…and I am sorry for that but I know God gave me new eyes to see, a bigger heart to love and a brighter smile to share with so many! I am a happy person in my life because I have lived through so much pain and seen how great this life can be when we just learn to not be so uptight about things and allow God to be our guide. We are not promised tomorrow and while you have the opportunity to share happiness, shine that beautiful smile of yours and take the time to really see people and not the circumstances that shape them….well, your happiness will grow in magnitude!! Try it..what have you got to lose?
I am grateful for the nice people I met today who showed me kindness, opened up their hearts and shared with me their stories. It humbles you in a very neat way. There is a reason I am in this career. God has a plan, a purpose for me and while I allow Him to work on all of that, I will do my part which is to do my best to let others see Christ in me. I encourage you to reach out to someone you don’t know, show an act of kindness, an act of love to your neighbor and you just never know….you may impact their life in some way. It may be small or it may be big but wouldn’t you rather know you made some type of impact on someone’s life than know you did nothing? Yeah, I know…it is often hard to step outside of our comfort zone but once you do, it is the greatest feeling in the world.
My prayer for you is that while reading this blog, I have inspired you to do something different and step out of that comfort zone. There is so much need in our society and all it takes is one small effort. Can you let it start with you?
Love, Hugs & Smiles 🙂
The Sun Will Set To Rise 