Kindness Still Matters

A couple of weeks ago, I was in the grocery store when I noticed a young woman—probably in her 20s—restocking the produce section. I was reaching for some celery or something nearby, and I simply looked at her, smiled big, and asked how she was doing.

At first, I could tell she was a little caught off guard. She paused, looked at me, smiled back, and said she was doing well. But I could also tell that being acknowledged and smiled at had genuinely touched her in a way that went beyond a quick exchange of words.

A few moments later, as I walked behind her, she turned around, looked me right in the eyes, and said, “You have a beautiful smile.”

I thanked her and told her how kind she was. Then she told me she was so used to people completely ignoring her while she worked that she was surprised I had smiled and spoken to her at all. Honestly, it made me both happy and sad at the same time.

Y’all, we can do better than what this world has conditioned us to expect. So many people walk through their days staring at phones, focused on lists, rushing from one thing to the next, barely noticing the people around them. And yet there are people everywhere quietly carrying burdens, feeling unseen, unnoticed, or forgotten.

What struck me most is how something so small—something that cost absolutely nothing—could make such a difference. A smile. A kind word. Eye contact. Simply acknowledging another human being.

It reminded me that we have opportunities every single day to brighten someone’s world in ways we may never fully understand. Sometimes the smallest gestures carry the greatest impact.

And the beautiful thing is that the blessing doesn’t just go to the other person. It fills our hearts, too.

Maybe we all just need to slow down a little more, lift our eyes from our screens, and truly see the people around us. You never know when a simple moment of kindness might be exactly what someone needed that day.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another…” Ephesians 4:32

May 22, 2026 Morning Brew

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