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| No lemon face today |
The Love of a Stranger
When I’m in
public places, I try to smile as much as possible. Years ago, when I was
traveling with my children, my daughter looked at me and said, “Mom, you have
your thinking face on.” At the time, I didn’t know what she was talking about
so I asked her. She scrunched up her little face and said “Like this.” She looked as if she’d been eating lemons.
I laughed
and told her that she was making it up, but later that same day, when I was
deep in thought, I looked up and caught my reflection in a mirror and it was
just as my daughter had described.
Now when I
travel, and even when I’m not, I smile. When I see a small child, I smile even
bigger. Almost always, I am rewarded with the wide-eyed wonderful toothless grin
from a kid who really needs all of our attention.
Yesterday though,
I wasn’t feeling well. As much as I tried to smile, I couldn’t. So instead, I
sang softly to myself, hoping that my thinking face was nowhere to be seen.
On a good
day, traveling is hectic, but I was miserable and just about to feel sorry for
myself; that's when Love stepped in.
It was if Love had spoken to
strangers, asking them to encourage me onward.
As I was boarding a flight, a woman
told me that she loved my earrings and my haircut; “You’ve got it going on
sister,” she said. She sounded as if she’d been watching a lot of Oprah and was
trying to use the right vernacular. I forced a smile and told her I truly appreciated
it.
Then a guy
turned around and said, I was thinking the same thing, but I didn’t want to
seem forward. The flight attendant joined in saying that she had been wondering
how I had gotten such beautiful skin.
I couldn’t hold them back; the tears
came streaming down my face and I smiled through them.
Not wanting
to look like a nut, I smiled bigger and told them that I was having a bad head
day but their encouragement had been the healing I needed.
My sister
from another mister laughed and said, “Girlfriend if this is a bad day, then
that brother up there had better watch out for the good one.”
You probably already know where I’m
going, but I’m going to go there anyway; you never know when someone might need
your encouragement. Don’t hold it back.
If you are thinking a good thought about someone;
share it.
If a kind word comes to mind; put it
out there.
We have no
problem sharing our frustration, anger and resentment; so let’s do the same with
our compliments.
Today, I feel like a million bucks
and I wish I could find that sister. I’d present myself to her and say, “See,
look what your love did.”
Be you, be well, be
Love.
Bertice Berry, PhD.
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