Don't I Know You?

Have you ever heard the phrase, "I never forget a face." I happen to be one of those people who possesses a unique gift of remembering faces. Names on-the-other-hand, is an entirely different blog. Anyway, my special-ability to remember faces totally back-fired on me one day. A friend and I were out for dinner and our table was located in the front of the restaurant just inside of a large window that extended from the ceiling to the floor. From my vantage point, I could see everyone entering the restaurant and many of them walked within inches of me as they approached the front door. As my friend and I were talking, laughing, and eating, I saw a group of women coming toward the door and as they lined up single-file to enter the building, my eyes wondered over in their direction. I immediately recognized a tall, thin, dark-haired women and I reacted without even thinking. My eyes got big, my face lit up with a smile, I waved enthusiastically, and without a sound my mouth said, "HI!."


Well, her reaction was not what I was expecting. She paused, looked over her shoulder and then back at me. She tucked her elbow into her waist, brought her hand to her chest, slowly wiggling her fingers while lowering her chin and glazing at me through her tightly pinched eyebrows. My reaction was, "Oops!" I quickly looked back at my friend to end the awkwardness of the moment and my mind began to race. "I know that I know her, but WHERE do I know her from?" Even though I was absolutely certain that I knew who she was, her body language made it clear that she did NOT know me.


For days, I could not get her face out of my mind and I would replay that same awkward moment in slow motion play-by-play. Then all of a sudden it hit me! "She's the hostess at the Olive Garden!" As a huge sense of relief came over me embarrassment followed. This is an employee who cheerfully greets me, leads me my table, is kind, friendly, and cheerful all in the role of her work. She certainly made a positive impression on me to the point where I instinctively treated her like a long-lost friend.


In humility, I remember the story of Mary and Martha in Luke chapter 10. Martha is distracted by all the preparations that had to be made and she is so focused on her own agenda that she neglected to realize that God himself (Jesus) is sitting in the room. How many other people do I come into contact with while I am focused on buying a newspaper, filling my car up with gas, digging in my purse for a coupon, without taking the time to fully acknowledge who it is that is providing service to me? You can argue that people are just doing their job, but Jesus told Martha to stop working and worrying and pay attention to people not things.


Next time you are out-and-about remember Hebrews 13:2 that says, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." So I want to encourage you to "Live Out Loud" this week through slowing down, looking around, and paying attention to the people you interact with on a daily basis.


Ask yourself, "Do I really notice the person who is serving me or am I more interested or consumed in myself?" We need to look for opportunities to connect with people and notice the people that God puts in our path. I encourage you to go out of our way to get to know them by name, ask inquisitive questions, and find a sincere way to share a compliment. My hope for you is that you will be sitting in a restaurant one day and someone you acknowledge waves back at you with the same sincere enthusiasm.

I Have a Voice!

Have you ever felt like you can make a difference or that you WANT to make a difference? I do and I have for as long as I can remember. At a very young age I would imagine being a singer, an actress, a lawyer, doctor, or even a beauty pageant queen. My imagination had no limit and I never put boundries around the possibilities of "Who I wanted to be when I grew up?" To top it off, my dad would say confidently, "Honey Girl, you can be anything you want to be!" And I believed him!

Here I am at age 37, which is about as old as I could imagine being back then. I just have to say that my perspective on what it means to make a difference has changed drastically. Back then, my idea of being famous or rich was the only way to make a difference, but today I believe that making a difference is made through simple acts of kindness. Let me ask you... When is the last time to you made a conscious decision to care? It is amazing what you see, do, and go-out-of-your-way-for when you are intentionally looking for ways to be kind or show someone that you care. I find myself being patient in the line at the grocery store, I am courteous to others through the use of manners, and I smile more, a lot more!

Last winter, I was stopped at a stoplight and I saw a mom with 2 very young children walking on the sidewalk beside my car. It was a cold winter day and even though they were bundled up in winter jackets, neither child had mittens. With the windchill, the temperature that day was well below zero and I felt bad for those little ones. Instinctively, I reached over and grabbed a pair of gloves that my own kids left on the back seat and just as I began rolling my window down, the light turned green and traffic started moving. The pressure of the other car's acceleration, the ackwardness of throwing gloves out of my window, the possibility of being rejected, or the embarrassment I might cause for the mother, ultimately prevented me from following through.

I believe that thinking is worthless without the act of follow through and in this case, my failure to act led to deep regret. Pride, haste, fear, and doubt all played a part in my inability to execute and from now on, I want to LIVE OUT LOUD and put the needs of others ahead of my own. Phillipians 2:3 says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." So why not take God's word literally. Jesus wasn't a crowd pleaser, he did profound acts of kindness, and he didn't live to please himself or what was socially acceptable. Jesus did what was right and didn't wait for the proper time and place to do it either.

The moral of the story is that moment by moment, day by day, we can make a difference through the decisions that we make. If we take ourselves out of the picture and put the needs of others before our own, we may not be in the spotlight, on centerstage, or cashing in on monetary rewards, but the value gained from a simple act of kindness is immeasurable.

So today... Live for others. Live out loud!