Words of Kindness and Joy

 

This Welcome sign hangs just outside my front door. It was a gift from my sister years ago. In this sign it says "you are welcome here, come inside and have a cup of tea, sit awhile". It is a touch of kindness, quietly sitting there waiting to greet you.

Small Kindnesses by Danusha Lameris

I’ve been thinking about the way, when you walk
down a crowded aisle, people pull in their legs
to let you by. Or how strangers still say “bless you”
when someone sneezes, a leftover
from the Bubonic plague. “Don’t die,” we are saying.
And sometimes, when you spill lemons
from your grocery bag, someone else will help you
pick them up. Mostly, we don’t want to harm each other.
We want to be handed our cup of coffee hot,
and to say thank you to the person handing it. To smile
at them and for them to smile back. For the waitress
to call us honey when she sets down the bowl of clam chowder,
and for the driver in the red pick-up truck to let us pass.
We have so little of each other, now. So far
from tribe and fire. Only these brief moments of exchange.
What if they are the true dwelling of the holy, these
fleeting temples we make together when we say, “Here,
have my seat,” “Go ahead—you first,” “I like your hat.”

Yesterday at my tea group our fearless leader and guide picked up her phone to walk the two guests on zoom around the circle to see every attendees tea sets and describe what she was seeing. She made sure to include them in the group even though they weren't in our physical presence. If you notice, there are two pillows sitting by the tea set. There was a couple visiting for the first time, so they sat side by side and shared each small cup of tea. Another participant this month has a disability in walking and our leader had her sit next to her so she could do the walking for her during the ceremony. Little touches of kindness, but oh so special.

Sending love, Marilyn