All The Waving

I'd forgotten about the waving. When we lived in Georgia I was surprised by the number of people who waved at you. Total strangers waving as you walked or drove by. It surprised me because in other locations I've lived, people just kind of ignore each other as they walk or drive by strangers. Not to be rude. We just don't know each other after all.

I had a friend in Tennessee once tell me that he waves to everyone. He said, "What if I get a flat tire some day? They'll remember I waved and stop by to help me." He said it jokingly, but his intentions were true ... "I'll make every stranger a friend."

When I lived in Georgia I wrote a weekly column, and one column was about the waving and my surprise with it. It just seemed so odd to wave to someone you didn't know. People would wave at me and I'd think, "Do I know that person? Nope. So why are they waving?" A different culture, that's all. But I'd forgotten about it after moving from that region.

Our family moved to Alabama in January and since then I think just about everyone in town has waved to me. Complete and total strangers wave every time they drive by me as I walk. At first I'd think to myself, "Yes, hi, how are you? I don't have a clue who you are, but I'll just wave anyways." But then I got to thinking, this may be my brother or sister in Christ! Or may be one who needs to know the love of Christ. When I get to Paradise and my life is flashing before me, do I want to be the person who waved or the one who looked away? An Our Daily Bread devotion I read this morning by David Roper (09-26-09) quoted a man who said, "When I stand before my Lord, I hope He'll say of me that I've loved too many, rather than too few."

I'm back in the habit of being the first person to wave, verses the one waving back. And it's so surprisingly comfortable. No, I don't know these people any better than I did before ...but I hope to someday.