Let Us Always Meet Each Other With a Smile

. . . for the smile is the beginning of love. --Mother Teresa

I am inspired each day by visiting Mrs. Staggs over in Merryville. You see, Merryville is that special place in everyone's heart where we can all meet and enjoy each other's company. We are free to frolic around with not a care in the world. Mrs. Staggs brings so much enjoyment to me by her words, her pictures and her creation of Merryville.

Today she wrote a post about an elderly gentlemen she had once met. She told us about the wisdom of one simple phrase he spoke: "Whom may I delight today?" I kept that phrase with me all day, and I hope to always carry it with me.

It was a dreary day outside--cold and damp--so I decided to finish some boxes I had been working on. I never know what I'm going to put on them until I sit down with the painted set in front of me. I pulled out all my snippets of this and snippets of that to see what would capture my eye and my heart. I immediately went to this delightful calendar with pictures and illustrations of children. Each page has a quaint saying next to adorable artwork. After looking through several pages, I came upon a caption that recaptured the same feeling I felt when I had read Mrs. Staggs' early-morning post. It was a quote from Mother Teresa, the one I wrote above, "Let us always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love." Simple words, simple meaning. And so, this was the theme of my three boxes.

I later found this photo in my mom's childhood album. It is of her (Sue), her sister (Nita) and their two friends. The smiles on their faces say it all.

May we always have a smile for one another to pass along.