I'VE BEEN THINKING

I've been thinking a lot about friendship lately. I've been thinking about what is reasonable to expect from a friendship, and what is not. 

I've been thinking where I fall on those things.. where I'm a good friend, where I'm not.  Where I have been and where I haven't.

I've been thinking about honesty, and what that means. I've been thinking about how honesty isn't just "not lying" and how misleading inferences and omission of the truth is just as dishonest as outrightly speaking lies.

I've been thinking about respect and the importance of showing up... and how it really isn't that hard.

I've been thinking about grace and forgiveness. I've been thinking about patience.

I've been thinking about the pulling-in that happens when someone speaks unkindly to you.

I've been thinking about all these things...  and perhaps sometime, I'll be ready to write more about them.  

But today, I'm just thinking about them.

G IS FOR GRACIOUS

It was 9:00 on a Saturday morning, and I was on my way to a meeting. But before that, I stopped into a local Starbucks. As usual, the line was long and full of fellow Seattle-ites, desperate for their morning shot of caffeine. I didn't really pay much attention, and shuffled through the email on my phone while the line slowly shuffled forward.

When it was my turn, I greeted the cashier with a smile, ordered and paid for my latte over a little chitchat, and was about to turn away to the "wait for your caffeine here" area of the store when the young man behind the counter stopped me.

"Can I just say 'Thank you?''" he asked quietly.

"Well sure...  though I don't know what for."

"You're the first person in about 15 people who's smiled at me this morning, and I just wanted to thank you for being kind."

I smiled at him again just for good measure. "Aw honey, you're just on the wrong end of the coffee.  But you're welcome... and I hope your day gets a little brighter."

I thought about that as I picked up my coffee and left the store. A little graciousness to touch a frustrated heart cost me very little. A smile, a kind word. That's about it... and yet went so far.

A little grace goes a long way.