My neighbor, a loquacious woman with bubbly personality, always exudes the right attitude. When I greeted her the other morning with a hello and asked how she was doing, she replied without hesitation. “I’m living my best life.”

 As she hurried along our street with three small children in tow, she turned her head in my direction again and said: “I guess it’s my time to shine.”

Her words stuck with me. What a wonderful outlook with which to start the day and to live with as you carry out your duties, whether mundane or monumental.

No matter the time of day that I see this mother of five, who has her own business and  is a bit of news junkie, she offers some word of encouragement or insight. A silver lining of hope even accompanies her the days when she seems stressed or overwhelmed with work.

She knows how to celebrate life with or without a party or a picnic. Like the sparklers that light a Fourth of July night, my neighbor brightens the moments we share either in passing or in longer conversations. There’s no grandiose pretense about her, no posturing or preening. She’s an ordinary woman who is made more beautiful by her heart actions and her desire to live as completely and intentionally as she can.

As she lives her best life, I am made better. And as I live mine, she is made better. How we greet each other with our words and our attitudes can make a difference in someone’s life. What would the world be like, if we all greeted the day and each other like my neighbor.  

“Our journey with God can be made much more   simple if only we take the time and efforts each day to remember that true ordinariness is indeed tangible holiness.”  —From “Touching the Holy” by Robert J. Wicks

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