Our lives are made of little things that matter, but do we notice them and appreciate them enough? It’s a good subject for the Thanksgiving month.
Phrases posted on Facebook November 2023
It’s early. An elderly man at the bottom of the stairs leading into the local Y grins at me and says a warm hello as if he knows me. It stops me. His smile is contagious. “How’s it going,” I ask. “Grateful,” he says with a twinkle. “Going to have a good one today. You, too.” The exchange is only a few minutes long. but it matters. I am suddenly full of smiles.
Someone has left a gull feather with a red bow in my mailbox . . . a fly-by greeting. It sits on the kitchen counter now . . . a mystery. Such surprises are gifts that matter.
To be remembered in little ways is special. To re-member is to be re-connected to beautiful river of kindness-flow. Both in remembering and in being remembered we are sharing something vital. Every little bit counts.
When a series of little delays pile up I believe its time to recalibrate. They could be signs to change my mind about something, or that I simply need to stop and rest for a bit, or what I had hoped for doesn’t have all of its constituent parts and therefore they cannot come into alignment. Hurry and pushing on will only complicate matters. A BIG PAUSE is needed for those small hints that are asking for my attention.
Continuing on the theme of two days ago, I remember my mother, who was an accomplished painter; step back from the easel and squint at her canvas holding up one thumb as a guide. She did this to see what she couldn’t see up close. She called it “the little step backwards” and she meant it to be useful in every day life as well as in painting.
Have you ever had it happen that someone tells you that something you said or did meant a lot to them and made a difference? You’ll scratch you head because you don’t remember anything about it. Small kind things we do naturally are the cement that holds the bricks together for others and for us.
To receive a “just because” snail mail post card or note is a delight and a surprise these Internet days. It’s not a birthday or a holiday greeting. It’s just “HI and thinking of you.” I like to have a stash of “just because” post cards on hand for when I get a nudge to reach out. We often ignore those tiny nudges, but acted on they can matter a lot to people in our lives.
Be selfish. Every day think of at least one person you can do or be something for even if it is miniscule. You’ll be doing this for yourself since we all know everything is hitched to everything else in the universe.
I’d like to share a quote of mine from Great Love in Little Ways, Reflections on the Power of Kindness “The hand of kindness is subtle. It has a long and tender reach.”
May we all have a day of gratitude and reach beyond ourselves to others.
Here’s another from Great Love in Little Ways: “In the mirror of kindness we can bear to see all of ourselves, inside and out, even what we do not like.”
One more from Great Love in Little Ways: “Kindness is the point of the pen that draws beauty out of us.”
A last quote from Great Love in Little Ways: “Kindness is the friend that knows the truth about us and gives us back to ourselves.”
I hope you’ll want this Great Love in Little Ways, Meditations on the Power of Kindness for yourself or for someone on your holiday list (available on Amazon or it can be ordered at a local bookstore). It is a book for our aching time that needs all the kindness we can give.
Here’s wisdom from William Sullivan and profound encouragement when we doubt ourselves. He wrote: “We live in a time when the greatest form of courage is to act as if our lives made a difference.”
Here’s a story of a seemingly little thing that mattered. When I first moved to where I live now I had to get a little food to tide me over until I could do a real shop. I hadn’t brought my purse just the cash I had on hand. At the corner deli I picked up a few things. But I was 25 cents short. In the line behind me was a woman who was clearly someone with meager means. She handed me the 25 cents and said, “Here, honey.” I was overwhelmed. She was the sweetest welcome to my new place that I could have imagined. I will never forget her.
Hope you have time to take a look at my book, Great Love in Little Ways, Meditations on the Power of Kindness. In this time of such national and international ache and terror, any kind act makes a difference. Though small, those acts are what we can do when we feel we helpless and seemingly unable to do anything.
