Day 364 - Lesson from a Homeless Lady

As I was driving to the park yesterday, I came to a stop light.  At this light was a woman with a sign that said she was willing to work and in need.  So, as is typically my custom when I see such individuals, I found my wallet, pulled out some cash, and reached my hand out the window to give it to her.  She saw and approached, taking the money and thanking me.  I smiled, and she said, "God bless you."  I returned the blessing, continuing to smile.  She said, "have a good evening," and I said, "you too."  She stepped back, returning to her place on the corner, and I picked up my phone to look at it since it had vibrated during our conversation.
What came next surprised me and provided the reason for this entry.  She walked back toward the car, and said, "even if you didn't give me the dollar, your smile was worth it.  You have a very beautiful smile."  Now, for much of my time on earth, I've been told that.  I have come to believe that such is true, but of course I don't mind when someone points it out.  But for some reason, when this lady said it, it nearly brought me to tears.  So as I sat in the park, I pondered why this particular lady at this particular time saying something I've been told a few dozen times (I mean, just last week at a meeting, a complete stranger said the same thing) touched me so much.  Well, I'm gonna venture a couple thoughts:

1. We sometimes forget our own beauty.  Sometimes things happen in life that make us forget our beauty.  While in general I'm a girl who's confident in my beauty, because I haven't always been such, at times, the words/actions of others can cause me to take an internal step backward.  Even the most confident of people can be momentarily tripped up, especially by those closest to them.  So when this woman, who I shared less than a minute of life with, recognized and acknowledged what some have missed for years, it reminded me that, as one song or two have said, "it don't take all day to recognize sunshine."  Just because some people don't recognize it doesn't mean that it isn't there.  Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder, and she reminded me that I need to be my own #1 beholder.
2. Beauty is available everywhere if we open our eyes to it.  Now, I'm not going to assume anything about her life, because all I know is what I saw in those few moments.  But I can say that the place where she was didn't show much conventional beauty.  In my relative wealth, my mood had me thinking more about the negative in life.  Yet this woman who had found herself on a street corner depending on the kindness of strangers for survival, had found beauty in someone else's smile.  Then she took the time to express such.  She could have kept her observation to herself, but she didn't.  She came back to my car in order to repay the kindness I'd shown shown her.  She even went so far as to that even without the money, my smile would have been worth it. Now, granted, she can't take my smile to a counter and they give her food, but the fact that she even spoke such a thought...  Even over the monetary value, she chose to appreciate the beauty of our interaction.  
3. Human connection is the most valuable thing in life.  Do I think I changed her life in that moment?  No.  But for a time, she has changed mine.  Even though money is what she was after, I think the fact that I was willing to momentarily engage her beyond tossing her a dollar and speeding off to get away from the guilt and stigma attached to such people, made a different.  Beyond this interaction, I think that there is value in sharing space and time and even your beauty with other people.  Even if it's for a moment, you never know what a smile, a hug, a compliment, or any of these seemingly small gestures can do for someone.  Connecting with other people, even in the small things, reminds us that love is possible and has healing powers that can make the bad days better.  This simple interaction where a form of love was exchanged has the possibility to touch us if we let it.  Love can be found anywhere... we just have to be willing to identify and receive it.