Used with permission from www.freefoto.com
In recent years, I’ve been inspired to go out of my way to greet others as I pass them in hallways, on sidewalks, everywhere. If God can love us in spite of what we do, then I can certainly reflect my love back by greeting others. I try not to let one person walk by without greeting them with a smile and a warm hello or “good morning – whatever’s appropriate at the time. It’s not much I know, but I’ve been waiting for someone to challenge me with a “what’s good about it?” or “what are you smiling at?” – that would be my opportunity to spread the good news about Jesus.
But no one has obliged me, and even worse, I’ve come to find that there are many people who don’t even bother to utter a word in return. At first, I thought it was because they couldn’t hear me, since I have a tendency to be soft-spoken, so I made adjustments to my volume. Yet and still, about 30% of the people I speak to say nothing. How rude? I thought.
One afternoon, I stepped onto an elevator. There was a woman there, so of course I said, “Hello!” I looked right at her, and she definitely saw and heard me – a split-second later, she smiled. That was it. At least she responded with a smile, which was certainly better than nothing. It got me to thinking that maybe there were others who smiled too, and thought that was enough. Maybe…
There’s simply just too much we have to be grateful for, and if God saw fit to put it in some one’s heart to acknowledge my presence with a hello, then I’m certainly going to return the favor. Of course I’m not going to let the lack of response from others stop me from continuing what I do, but I certainly hope that if you are reading this, you would consider your greeting habits. Pleasantly adjust them if you must so that you are not offending someone who’s simply trying to make you feel special if only for a moment. Everyone is worthy to be spoken to, even the not-so-clean homeless guy on the street.
I pray that others will find it within themselves to understand that even small gifts from God such as warm greetings of others are worth being thankful for and should be acknowledged appropriately with more than a smile.
This blog is hosted by:
If you’ve enjoyed the posts on this blog, please take a moment to Subscribe via RSS or Subscribe to Highly Favored by Email.
Kiesha Easley holds a Master of Arts in English. She is a graduate of the University of Toledo and has been published on Fuelyourblogging.com, Twitip.com, Examiner.com, Associate Programs, EzineArticles.com and others. 
This is a thought provoking post. Sometimes I speak to people first and sometimes I don’t. I do feel it is a very polite thing to do. This is something that I will try doing more of, “speaking to others,” everywhere I go.