The Day A Truck Smiled At Me

A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit. 

Proverbs 15:30

My youngest son woke up grumpy. 

He didn't want to get up, and it showed. He picked at his breakfast, dressed as slowly as possible, and then stumbled into the car.

As I drove him to school that morning, I remained fairly quiet to prevent any emotions from exploding. (We've seen that before, and it's not pretty.)

Then I saw something in the midst of traffic that made me smile. I could hardly believe it. So unexpected. So fun!

A truck up ahead was smiling at me!

Two windows on the back looked like eyes. A latch appeared to be a nose. And the smile was painted on the bottom.

"Look at that truck up ahead," I told my son. "It's smiling at us."

Well, that broke the grumpy mood. When I glanced back, I could see a big smile on his face as I looked at the truck.

As we got closer, we discovered it was a plumbing truck.

Wow. I thought to myself. God really can use anything to speak to us. That morning, He used a plumbing truck going down the highway. A most unusual thing, you'll have to admit.

In the weeks since, I've thought a lot about the smiling plumbing truck even though we haven't seen it again. The smiling plumbing truck is such a simple and uncomplicated gesture. Yet it changed my son's mood -- possibly his entire day.

I began to think about what simple things I could do that might make someone's day better. A smile. An unexpected compliment. A text. A social media post. Just being nice when others don't take the time.

What unexpected kind gesture can you do for someone today?

Lord, show me simple things I can do today to encourage someone.

Stacy

*Special thanks to Watson Plumbing for sending me a photo of their truck to use with this blog.