Greetings!

Greetings!

How do we greet one another?  Maybe, to paraphrase Jesus and other spiritual teachers, as we like to be greeted?

On my walk this morning I was welcomed by the most wonderful sunrise (more about that later), and it so lifted me from the shadows of a disturbed night and a troubled dream, that I intentionally offered an honest "Good morning" to the three persons I met along my way.

One person replied with a quick "Hi" before passing on.  The second looked me quickly in the eye and said, "Good morning" in return.  The third, caught by surprise while scraping frost from the back window of her car, offered just a smile -- but a warm and open one.

The person by whom I felt most honestly greeted was the one who said, "Good morning."  Second best was the smiler.  Last of all was the one who said just "Hi."

This particular reflection is prompted by a memory of being admonished a few years ago by a Roman Catholic sister who was a fellow participant in a residential program.  Her most recent posting had been for a good number of years in Rome, and she was accustomed to a certain level of culture and grace.  So one morning when I uttered my usual "hi" as we passed in the hallway, thinking that was sufficient for politeness, this time she took the time to stop and wonder aloud why on earth North Americans think a guttural grunt of one syllable is really adequate to acknowledge the presence of another human being. 

Ouch!  Good morning.

The best greeting of all this morning, though, was of course the sunrise that I had the good fortune to walk into as I walked out the front door of our house, down our sidewalk, and then as usual for my morning walk turned left to walk along the public sidewalk.  Which happens to lead me east.  Which faced me suddenly and without expectation, square and open-eyed and leaping-hearted towards the most gently glorious sky of dawning gold, orange, and crimson, tinging all the earth below -- trees, street, cars, lawns, houses -- with hues of the same.

It has been some time, I think, since my gaze has been raised in quite that gracious and wondrous a way to feel greeted by a new day.  Some time since I have felt that drawn beyond the shadow of disturbed nights and troubled dreams, into the gift of a perfect new morning and the dawning of a new day.

And I wonder ... am I able to offer at least some reflection of that grace, in the way I choose to greet others?  To greet, as I have been greeted?