“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” – Matthew 5:9
It’s happened several times: where multiple cars must converge into one line at a Starbuck’s drive thru, or two cars arrive at the same time and they play a game of chicken to see who gets in line first. Although it may sound silly, I’ve seen several people inch up and refuse to let the other car merge into the line. They won’t make eye contact and they’ll look down at their phone as if they had no clue that it’s the other person’s turn. It gets a little interesting quickly and it’s such an unnecessary situation. We’re all trying to be somewhere on time and our thought process is as such that we believe we can’t spare an extra 2 minutes. Really? I confess this is me on occasion.
On the other hand, there have been numerous occasions where the car in front of me decided to extend their kindness by paying for my entire order or simply waving their hand to thank me for letting them in. Those times, when I was the person in a major rush and was a little annoyed that I had to let someone merge in front of me, that someone’s kind actions or gratitude changed my whole outlook for the morning.
We live in a culture that is always on the go. We all keep demanding schedules and too often we see the people around us as an obstacle to our day. The truth is the people in our midst, the drivers in those cars around, that person who is in line with us getting coffee is a person that deserves our kindness. When we take just a minute to show the smallest of kindness or offer our gratitude we have the chance to put a smile on someone’s face, and brighten their day. I know we are all busy, but maybe we can schedule leaving the house just two minutes earlier in the morning with the intention of blessing a life with our small gift of kindness. I have no doubt we can be a blessing, even in the merging lines of the morning rush.
Jamie Williamson, Edmond Campus Director of Administration
