Just A Simple Greeting Please… I was out shopping the other day and I found it interesting how people greeted one another, or didn’t. One store I like teaches their employees to say “welcome to ___, we’re glad you’re here. Let us know if you need anything.” They do it with a smile, too, and honestly, when I do need to ask they always respond in a caring way. One older lady who is always saying “I think it’s time for me to retire” is still there 3 years later. I asked her why she didn’t retire and her answer was astounding, “outside of my husband who lives with the TV, the dog who is deaf, and the cat who lives somewhere in my house and only comes out to eat, who can I talk to who will talk back to me, who can I give my smile to?” How is that for an answer?!

Another place I went and I love is the deli section at Fry’s grocery store near me. Today, the young man who works there helped the lady in front of me who ordered the 8-piece chicken dinner. He was a tad slow but so kind and very funny—he has Downs Syndrome. He put every piece of that chicken in the box “just right”, double-checked it and then tucked the sides of the box and put the price tag on it. “I hope your dinner will be wonderful—our chicken is really good” he said enthusiastically. She didn’t smile or acknowledge him, she just grabbed the box and looked at me and said, (thankfully not too loud), “he is slow.”

I looked at her and this just blurted out of me and I said, “sometimes kindness takes a bit more for those who are not very kind.” She stared at me and stomped out. I know I was wrong in what I said but I just felt I had to. That young man didn’t realize what happened, but when I stepped up to get the same chicken box his smile was there and he said, “Oh, it’s you” and then he repeated the same words and I said, “I know your chicken is good, and I love it when you pack it for me with a smile.” He giggled, I think I embarrassed him, but when I’m at that store I look for him because he remembers me and just makes my day!

What is so hard about a simple greeting? I don’t know about you, but for me it changes me and the other person. Why? Because we see them—they are someone to us—they aren’t just an invisible human without worth—they are a child of God, they deserve to be seen!

J.H. Jowett was a popular minister in Britain many years ago. He was a “people person” and the shopkeepers in his town loved it when “the Parson” came in because he always had a smile, a funny story, and was very encouraging. Pastor Jowett used a true story in one of his sermons regarding the importance of greeting, he said to his congregants:

There was a convict who lived in Darlington, England. He had just been released after three years in jail when he happened to pass the town’s mayor on the street. He knew the man well but once you’ve been a jail-bird, he expected nothing more than cold ostracism, or for sure a brush off. In his mind he was convinced that who would want to be kind to a convict?

However, that isn’t what happened! Instead, the mayor tipped his hat and said, “Well hello, I’m so glad to see you. I know it’s been tough for you, so how are you doing now?” The man didn’t know how to respond to such kindness, so he just stuttered a meek “I’m well, thank you” then put his head down and quickly walked away, feeling more confused than ever.

Little did that convict know that he was not quite yet done with encounters with the mayor! A few years later the two accidentally met while in another city. The mayor didn’t remember the man this time because many things had changed about him, his looks, his weight, his demeanor and especially his smile. But the man had never forgotten the mayor, and he spoke first saying, “Mayor, I want to thank you.” The mayor then realized who he was by his voice, and said, “thank me for what?” The man replied, “When I came out of prison no one would even look at me let alone say anything, not even a simple hello. But that day a few years ago when we saw each other on the street, you tipped your hat at me and you spoke a kind word to me, and I just have to tell you that, well—what you did—it changed my life.”

How is that for a simple greeting? Who would think it would have such changing power—yet it does! In fact, the Apostle Peter spoke words about a “simple greeting” in his first letter to the church (1 Peter 5:14 NLT). He carried it even further saying, “Greet one another with a kiss of love.” Now that may be a stretch for us today, but it wasn’t in his time. People knew what he meant—that greeting one another was an act of love and it wasn’t hard at all.

Perhaps that smiling “hello” seems mundane, insignificant or ‘small-change’ to you, but you know something—to someone else—like that convict in the story—it may be huge, it can be life-changing! Sometimes a smile is a greeting not spoken in words, and how it conveys from you to another changes the stale air to a breath of fresh air and acceptance.

We choose to be so “individual” today, as if we are the only entity walking this earth. “Don’t get in my space, don’t talk to me, just give me the chicken.” What are we missing with this type of attitude? LOTS—lots of opportunities for friendship, for warmth and caring. And, worst of all we are missing out on God’s love in those persons, a love that is like an electric bolt that goes from one person to another, sparking hope, giving smiles and encouraging one another. How sad indeed. I don’t know what choices you would make about all this, but for me, I’d rather have a smile, a giggle, and a precisely measured box of chicken, AMEN!