Mystery writer, MC Beaton has created a series with titles that begin with the words “Death of…”  She has not written one entitled Death of Good Man.  But that is what I was thinking of the other day when I learned of the death of a good man from our congregation.  A good man who I will mourn and miss.

Jack was a mystery to me beyond the fact that he was a faithful parishioner with a ready smile and a good word for everyone.  Once when I was feeling low, he smiled at me and paid me a compliment which lifted my spirits and made him my friend forever.

Jack was another sad victim of the current pandemic.  Until he died, I did not know that he had no immediate family.  My fault that I did not make the effort to learn more about my forever friend.

However, Jack unknowingly taught me a valuable lesson – the miracle of a smile and the impact of kindness.  How little effort it takes to smile at a passerby, no matter the hue of their skin, the designs on their bodies, the state of their clothes or their standing in the community.  We will not know what that act of kindness will do for their morale or even for the life of that person.  Try it.

The smile, an act of kindness, a miracle given by God to be performed by us.

Always remember that God loves you and every one of His creations unconditionally.

Terri