Smile

This Week's Quotation:

Joy is very infectious. We will never know just how much good a simple smile can do. Smile at people who cross your path. You have a beautiful smile. Don’t waste it. Live beautifully. Smile at life. Smile everywhere you go. Smile at everyone you meet.

                          ~ Mother Teresa

Smile

Ministering to the poor and sick in Calcutta, India, could hardly be what many might think of as a recipe for a joyful and fulfilling life. And yet that is what Mother Teresa experienced day after day, year after year, in the most repulsive and even life-threatening conditions. She was able to smile through it all.

I’ve experienced a lot of very challenging circumstances in my life, and I’m sure you have too. Have we been able to smile through it all? I think the only way we’re able to smile in even the darkest and most threatening circumstances is if we’re in touch with something higher, connected, we might say, to the creative process of life, which continues to operate steadily through all the vicissitudes of human experience.

There is one friend that I often encounter as I’m walking around the property where I live. He will say, “How are you today?” And I will habitually reply, “Fine.” And then he will say, “Oh, c'mon Jerry, just fine?” And then I will have to smile and say either, “I’m great, and it’s another day in paradise!” or “I’m great, and I’m living the dream!” And it lifts each of our days with an infectious joy.

As Mother Teresa says, Smile at life. Smile everywhere you go. Smile at everyone you meet. And the wonderful thing is it’s contagious—it spreads. It’s been my experience that when I smile at a person, the person almost always smiles back. What a simple process for spreading the joy of living and participating in a life-affirming and life-enhancing spiritual practice.

About Open Windows

We, the authors of this blog, dedicate it to the transparent exploration of the world's sacred scripture and enlightened spiritual thought. We believe that the original inspiration of all faiths comes from a common source, named and revered in a myriad of ways. With that understanding, the innumerable symbols, beliefs, and practices of faith cease to divide. They become open windows to a common reality that inspires and unifies us. We find deeper insight and nourishment in our own faith and from the expression of faith from others.

We hope these weekly quotations and meditations speak to your heart and soul.