She was one of the employees at our local DMV office. She wasn’t very friendly and was quite often all business to the point of being condescending. I never enjoyed having her take care of me. But one day when I took my girl in there to get her official license, she asked me if she had her required fifty hours in. I told her yes, and then added “probably at least fifty more if you include her backseat driving”. The smile burst from her lips as her laughter almost bubbled forth. That day as we talked back and forth, I got to know a different side of her and walked out with a smile on my face.

Another day, another place. One of the employees at our local treasurer’s office wasn’t known for her friendliness either. If you didn’t have all your papers in order when you got to her desk, she let you know in no uncertain terms that there wasn’t going to be anything happening that day. She rarely smiled and appeared stiff. 

But the next time I went, it was such a bright, sunny, and warm February day that a person couldn’t help but feel happy. As I sat in the chair waiting my turn, it looked as if she would be the one taking care of me. Even as I hoped the others would hurry up, I found myself in the chair at her desk. Could I get her to smile? “I hear the others ordering food from the diner, you getting some too?”

That brightened her up. “Oh yes. We let her do the ordering.” She gestured to one of the others. 

“Oh!” I said, teasingly. “You trust her to get you something good?” The smile burst forth from her and as the others heard us, they joined the banter. We talked about food for a while and the donuts being hoarded behind the desk. It was time to leave and as a closing comment, I said, “Well I hope you can get outside and enjoy the beautiful day!” Then as an after thought I added, “If they let you out of your prison.” 

Her laugh bubbled over then, uncontainable. And to my delight, I heard the mutterings of “let you out of prison” behind me amidst their laughter. My face couldn’t contain my grin as I bounded down the steps outside, my steps light.

And yet another place. She was the cashier at a local grocery store. Smiles came hard for her also and I wondered what kind of life she lived outside of work. Was there any joy in her life? She had made comments to me now and then that made me think it wasn’t all easy. I always tried to talk to her and take an interest in her. 

But one day as I gave her a big smile and asked her how her day was, she smiled too. As she scanned my items, I visited with her a bit, purposely trying to bring cheer to her day. As I was ready to say goodbye, she made the comment. “I always like to see your smile. Some days your smile is the only one I see.”

Really now. “Some days your smile is the only one I see.” Do we really know each other? We go in and out of church, school, and businesses in town. We see those who appear standoffish, frustrated, or grumpy. And we don’t really know why, do we? We don’t really know what they’re going through to make them react the way they do. But can we care enough to try? Do we dare see how far a little joy can go? 

There are days when we just want to stay away from “that desk”, “that pew”, “that person”. But what if we don’t? What then? We may find sorrow behind those eyes or hurt resting in those hearts. We might see that there’s a reason for the lack of smiles and happiness.

And then, miracle of miracles, we show love and kindness and joy! We bring teasing remarks and hope to weary souls. And suddenly, we find ourselves wanting to go back to those places, back to those people. For now that we’ve taken the time to make just a small breakthrough, we see the smiles and laughter and the crinkles around the eyes. We see the happiness shine from their faces. And as we leave, our feet barely feel the sidewalk as the joy we passed on fills our own hearts and we completely overflow.