Airports, am I right mamas?

I was flying home solo after a family visit. I was dropped off early at the airport to avoid subjecting my family to southern California rush hour traffic on their ride home. It made for a long evening, and I was never more grateful for airport lounge access.

It was finally time to board the plane. There was a man sitting in the row ahead of me. He saw me approach with my roller bag and my eyes surveying which overhead bin to stuff it in. He quickly stood up and offered his muscle.  If only he knew my suitcase was heaviest coming down versus going home. He lifted my roller with ease into the overhead bins. Touched by his gentlemanly gesture, I thanked him.

Wouldn’t you know, when we landed, he did the same thing with no prompting.  What a lovely gentle gesture.

It cost him nothing to be nice.  

Weeks later and I am still thinking about this unexpected gentle gesture. It is easy these days to feel lost in a sea of billions of people. Are you seen? Does anyone notice you? I get it. I am remote worker, shackled to my computer and trapped alone inside the majority of the day.  That is one of the reasons I take multiple outdoor walks year round; just so someone sees me other than my husband. Not that hubby is not enough; thank you for coming home every night babe.

There are countless different gentle gestures we can do on a daily basis. It can be as easy as a smile, opening a door, buying the next person in line a coffee, or you can add a little muscle and stow someone’s suitcase in the overhead bin on an airplane. The only thing stopping our gentle gestures is our imagination.

It costs nothing to be nice.

Do you know the best way to start being nice? Put away that idol we all carry around with us.  It is a distraction to real life.  The man on the plane did not have his phone out.  He wasn’t doing last minute doom scrolling before putting it on airplane mode. He was sitting, in the moment, with his son. He was present, and available to be nice.

Mamas, do you make yourself available?

If I could job shadow Jesus for a day, I would want to see the ripple effects of these gentle gestures. Thinking about ripples, I am picturing a sink full of dishes, because I tend to have this at my house, all the time. The bowl, plates, cups all have varying degrees of water collection depending on how long they have been held hostage in the sink.  What happens when a drop of water lands in still water?  The ripples start. The mundane is interrupted.

That is what being nice does, your act starts a ripple effect, which expands to the next person and the next and keeps going until the ripples of your gentle gesture are no longer measurable.  

When I get to Heaven, the first thing I want to see is my ripple reel.  How big of a splash did I make for Jesus?

How big will your splash be mamas?