Mother Teresa said,
“Peace begins with a smile.” I agree with her, on
many levels.
A smile — a
genuine one — is a gift we give. It costs us nothing and it
brings happiness, calm, goodness to the people who are the
beneficiaries as well as to us, the smilers.
That often begins a
chain reaction of happy things, simple goodness, and thoughts of
being or doing better. It’s the old “You
catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” adage my mom
used so often.
I found a poem that
brought a smile to my face. I hope it does the same to you. With
smiley thanks to the author, Steve Maraboli, here’s:
Dare to Be
When a new day begins, dare to smile gratefully.
When there is darkness, dare to be the first to shine a light.
When there is injustice, dare to be the first to condemn it.
When something seems difficult, dare to do it anyway.
When life seems to beat you down, dare to fight back.
When there seems to be no hope, dare to find some.
When you’re feeling tired, dare to keep going.
When times are tough, dare to be tougher.
When love hurts you, dare to love again.
When someone is hurting, dare to help them heal.
When another is lost, dare to help them find the way.
When a friend falls, dare to be the first to extend a hand.
When you cross paths with another, dare to make them smile.
When you feel great, dare to help someone else feel great too.
When the day has ended, dare to feel as if you’ve done your best.
Dare to be the best you can —
At all times, Dare to be!”
So today, my thought is
this: In all of our daring, believing, faithful growing, we can start
with daring to smile. It is a beautiful, loving gesture. When
we catch ourselves smiling, when we pass a glass pane or a mirror,
doesn’t it make us feel better? It makes the rest of the world
feel better, too.
We want to be good
followers of Jesus Christ. We can’t do everything the way we
wish we could. But we can do small things well. Like beginning each
day with a smile!
Vickey Pahnke Taylor is a wife, mom, grandmother, teacher, author, and songwriter. Her
undergraduate study at BYU was musical theater. She has a Masters degree in interpersonal
communications.
A Billboard award-winning songwriter with hundreds of songs to her credit, she uses music as a
teaching tool. But her favorite way to use music has been to sing to her children. You should
hear the family's rousing versions of "Happy Birthday"!
In addition to three solo albums in the LDS market, she co-wrote "Women at the Well" with
Kenneth Cope and "My Beloved Christ: with Randy Kartchner. She is co-writer of the theme
song for Utah's Make-A-Wish foundation, the song for the Special Olympics program, and
EFY's theme song.
She writes for several online magazines and columns, and has authored several books. Her
website, www.goodnessmatters.com, is her way of continuing to grow goodness in the world,
pointing people gently toward Christ and eternal principles of truth.
She has spoken for the Church's various Youth and Family programs for 25 years. She and her
husband Dean have eight children and four grandchildren. She adores being a wife, mom and
grandmother. She loves flowers, brownies, cooking Italian and Southern foods, the ocean, and
laughing every chance she gets.
Vickey was baptized a member of the Church as a teenager in Virginia. She serves as gospel
doctrine teacher in her ward, and Dean serves on their stake high council.
