As we travel around, we get to see all kinds of amazing flowers and different kinds of plants and vegetation native to the areas.  Now granted this picture is not of an outside plant setting, but it was taken at a local store where I had never seen that before.  I have seen daisies that were dyed different colors and have even helped shown my students how they did that in science class, but this was totally different.  These were roses that looked as though they were white and dyed to turn into these colors. Then I found rainbow roses.  It blew my mind, and I knew they were man made

Someone had to take the time to not just do this for a one off for a friend, but on a massive scale and incorporating a team.  Now they even have hybrid roses that are black or hot chocolate as we saw last week.  All because someone thought to ask the question, what if, and I think so and so would like this. 

Whether this was a man who knew his girlfriend’s or wife’s favorite color was rainbow, or whether it was a woman who was mourning the loss of a loved one and the family sought to cheer her up with the eternal symbol of love, the rose, and a rainbow of colors.  It doesn’t matter the reason behind the motivation, it matters that someone took action and put feet to their thoughts.  You see we all know people who are gifted with the gifts of discernment and are able to see other’s suffering differently and are more in tune to doing something for them to help brighten their day.  

Whether we have the gift of discernment or not, we see people all across this great country hurting and suffering sometimes from physical pain, sometimes from emotional pain, sometimes from extreme stress they are in due to other’s choices, no matter the reason for the pain hurting people hurt others.  Although we can not solve all of the pain and suffering in the world, we can help ease one person’s each day.  Maybe it is a loved one we exhibit more grace with, maybe it is our child’s teacher, maybe it is the grocery clerk, or the person in line who rudely cut us off, maybe it is the homeless holding the sign.  We don’t have to offer money or a large bouquet of flowers to make a difference.  We can simply look them in the eye and give them a genuine smile of understanding and offer grace and kindness.  This renews their hope every time it happens, it reminds them there is still good in this world, even if they don’t feel it.  It shows them they are a human and have value, even despite their choices and if enough of us did that every day, just chose to smile at one human being a day, no matter how we felt, or how rude they were, or what was going on in our circumstances, it not only blesses them, but also us.  It is scientifically proven to increase endorphins which make us happier and reduces pain.  Then if more people did it, we might sway the number of suicides committed, or stopped an angry mob from forming due to all the hate talk, or simply encouraged a single mom who just needed to make it through that shift to take her baby to the doctor after work.

Oh, don’t think I’m not asking you to do anything I myself don’t practice.  By no means am I perfect at this.  When people are flat out rude to me and I’m tempted to shut them down, I’m constantly reminded of this.  Those times that I chose to shut them down with kindness and grace and a smile, was terribly difficult for me when I was unpracticed, but got easier as it went.  None of us deserve anything but the gates of hell, there is none righteous no not one, Romans 3:10, but thankfully someone was willing to look beyond their own suffering, their own comfort, their own temptation to lash out, and sacrifice their life for us that we might have eternal life.  If we all do a little, it will add up to monumental changes that will turn this tide and rebuild the community we all live in.

Don’t we all want a better life for ourselves and our loved ones?  Smile with me and change the world! 😊