Life was not meant to be an unending sequence of beautiful days. But beautiful things can happen even on ugly days, and often those beautiful things happen when we find a way to make someone smile.
It usually doesn’t take much. Even a small spark of light can brighten someone’s darkness. A kind word of appreciation or encouragement, a cheerful greeting, a sincere compliment, an invitation to join your circle of friends or even just your conversation—these simple gestures cost you nothing and yet can be a great gift. The key is that they point our hearts toward others rather than ourselves.
So much of our daily life is centered on self—our needs, wants, demands, and responsibilities. That’s needful, but it need not be all consuming. Perhaps we could benefit from looking less in the mirror and more into the hearts of others. That may not mean traveling overseas on a humanitarian mission, however worthy that may be. More often, it simply means that we open our hearts to others. It may take practice, and it certainly takes some effort, but generosity of spirit can become a habit of the heart, a way of life.
Sometimes it’s tempting to assume that the happiest people are those with the most prosperity or the fewest troubles. But of course that isn’t true. That person you know who seems to be unfailingly happy surely has had her share of heartache and difficulty. Her life hasn’t been easy or perfect, and some days are better than others. She’s just decided that those hard time will not be her focus. Instead, she focuses on making other people smile. She made kindness a choice, and it’s become a habit. She’s happy because she is determined to make other people happy.
Ultimately, self-centeredness is such a lonely place to be. So if you seek for more love and beauty in your life, spread some around in other people’s lives first. Make someone smile today, and without fail, you’ll find yourself smiling too.
-Lloyd D. Newell
Sept. 13, 2015
Broadcast Number 4,487
Mormon Tabernacle Choir
Conductor
Mack Wilberg
Organist
Richard Elliott
Host
Lloyd Newell
I Sing the Greatness of Our God
Fred Bock
In Thee Is Gladness
Giovanni G. Gastoldi; arr. Daniel Kallman
Sinfonia to Cantata 29
Johann Sebastian Bach; arr. Robert Hebble
The Lord Is My Strength and My Shield
Paul Leddington Wright
Somewhere Out There, from An American Tail
James Horner, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil; arr. Michael Davis
Bring, O Morn, Thy Music!
Howard Helvey