It’s pretty incredible how significant and beautiful a smile is.
Last Saturday, I was supposed to run my first trail race, but the weather apparently had other plans for my life. The forecast called for heavy rain and storms pretty much all day, so the day before the race, participants received an email saying that the race would be postponed. The race directors had spoken with the park superintendent, and they all decided that it was the safe decision not to have the race the next day.
I was not thrilled with the news.
I had been training on trails for a while and was really looking forward to the race, especially since I haven’t raced in a rather long time. But this was out of my control, and I know that I’m not the only one who was impacted by it. Still, for lack of a better word, it sucked.
When I woke up Saturday morning, I didn’t immediately go running. It was storming pretty hard, and while I think a rain run is fun every once in a while, I know that running in lightning isn’t the brightest idea. A little into the late morning, though, I thought the storms had let up some, so I laced up my shoes and mentally prepared to go get soaked.
I stepped outside, and it was raining but not to the point that I was regretting my decision. However, about 30 seconds in, the sky decided to cry all of its tears at once and not stop. I get that. The first mile was rough. I wanted to turn back and go home, but I was already out there and wet, so I figured I might as well keep running.
After about two or three miles, I realized it was beginning to lightning quite a bit. Maybe it had been the entire time, and I simply hadn’t noticed because I was thinking too much about how wet and cold I was. I’m not sure. Either way, it was lightning at that point, and I was in the wide open like a fool begging to be struck.
But I just kept running as if everything was fine.
With the route I went, I only crossed one major-ish intersection, and of course the light turned red right before I got there—because why wouldn’t I want to stop my run and stand in the storm that only seemed to be getting worse? In that moment, I wanted to have magical powers like Sabrina the Teenage Witch to transport me back home. I wanted to be warm and dry and curled up on my sofa with a blanket and my dog. The last place I wanted to be was on that street corner waiting for the light to turn green so that I could go back to trying to convince myself that I was doing great by repeating Mariah Carey’s “I Can Make It Through the Rain” chorus in my head.
And then it happened. The man in the white truck came to the rescue.
No, I didn’t get a ride home. This guy in a truck pulled up to the light, and even though his windows were up, I immediately recognized the song that was blaring in his car, and my heart perked up. It was a song from Taylor Swift’s recently released The Tortured Poets Department album, and the fella in the truck was clearly a fan. I turned to him and smiled and gave a thumbs up and received the same in return. A couple of seconds later, the light turned green, and I was on my way.
The rain didn’t let up at all, and my drenched body felt cold all the way down to my bones, but the rest of the run was pretty enjoyable. I sloshed through tall puddles in areas where the drainage system decided not to exist, and I almost slipped in unavoidable mud spots more than once. My ponytail was essentially in a complete knot by the time I finished, and I couldn’t really feel my hands for a little while.
But it was a run that was so refreshing for my soul.
Yes, I love Taylor Swift music, but it wasn’t just hearing one of her songs that changed my perspective. It was that shared exchange with someone I didn’t know who had no idea what I was going through in that moment or what I’ve been going through for more than merely in that moment. In a split second when I needed it most, someone came along and gave me a smile and spark of joy that warmed my heart enough to help me carry on when I wanted to quit. Thank you, dear person.
I believe that God sends us certain people every once in a while when we need them most. That guy in the truck probably has no idea how much he helped me that day, but he did. I think it’s important to remember that we can often be that person to others we come across, too, and we may never know it. We don’t know what everyone is going through—the actual life storms people face are often much bigger and more daunting than some heavy rain with thunder and lightning. The heart is powerful and strong, but it can also be far more fragile than we would like, and sometimes it feels like it can only take so much before it starts to shatter.
And as small as it may seem, a simple smile can truly change everything in an instant.
We can do hard things. Like Mariah, we can make it through the rain. We can face the storms. But it’s not always easy to do so, and it’s OK to feel big feelings at times. The rain will pick up sometimes, but it doesn’t mean it will be like that forever. There might be someone who comes along in a truck and blares a song that helps you (or maybe it’s some other completely different experience that fuels your heart). Whatever it is, I hope that you feel sparks of joy when it happens.
And I hope that you are able to do that for someone else you don’t know who needs it—because a seemingly fleeting moment of kindness can last far longer than we could ever imagine.
