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Today's
Meditation:
Yesterday I was walking through the elementary school
wing of our building and I saw a little girl about five
years old walking towards me. She was wearing shoes
that had lights in them, and she looked incredibly
friendly. Our eyes met and we smiled at each
other. "Your shoes are really cool," I
said, and her smile grew even bigger and she positively
beamed. Her smile made my day much, much brighter,
and it's something that sticks in my mind and brightens
each moment that I think of it.
Many years ago, on a cold and dreary winter morning in
Salamanca, the same thing happened to me. A little
girl on the street, holding her mother's hand-- our eyes
met, and we shared a smile that has stuck with me for
three decades. That smile is still with me, while so
many other things that I thought might have been very
important to me have fallen by the wayside, and are no
longer in my mind. In my life I remember more the
smiles and the hugs and the words of encouragement that
I've been blessed to give to and receive from others than
I remember the jobs or the tasks or even many of the
"accomplishments" that I've achieved.
That's why I fully believe in Humphrey's words. The
things that have touched my heart are the things that stay
with me and that keep me constantly remembering how
positive life can be, how powerful a simple smile can
prove. I've shared such smiles with adults, too, but
more rarely-- children seem to have a greater ability to
include their hearts in their smiles.
I've had very big successes in life, but to be completely
honest, if I were to choose which memory I would like to
have foremost in my mind all the time, I would choose one
of these smiles from people that I don't even know than I
would a graduation or an award. I would choose my
wife's smile at our wedding over the wedding itself, and I
would choose times spent sharing silence with loved ones
over any times spent in cheering crowds. Life is
filled with simple, deep moments, and if we can truly
appreciate the depth and beauty of those moments, much of
the rest of life becomes much more positive.
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