Button up this Lent

The other day, I realized I was running ahead of schedule on my way to school pick-up, so I stopped for gas. I slid the pump into the side of the car and then took a quick walk around the car.

Dozens of years ago, my father told me that was a good idea, so I do it every time, even though I’ve never noticed anything on my trip around the car. But it gives me something to do while I’m waiting for my tank to fill.

As I finished my loop, a woman walked over from one of the other pumps.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” she said. “I don’t know if you’re going somewhere important. I just wanted to tell you your coat buttons aren’t lined up right.”

I looked down and saw that she was right. It was chilly, and I had buttoned up quickly as I stepped out of the car. The coat was completely askew.

I thanked her and fixed my buttons. Then I pressed “no” to the receipt question on the screen and got back into my car.

As I drove away, I thought about how often we don’t notice—or speak up. Especially at the gas station, we each come and do our thing, barely noticing those around us. I appreciated that she had taken a moment to speak to me—and to do it in a gentle, friendly, not-at-all-critical way.

In the car line at school, no one would care that my coat was buttoned wrong. The teens certainly wouldn’t notice. But she was right. I could have been on my way to a job interview or an important meeting. I might have been heading somewhere formal. And I would have shown up with my coat buttoned all wrong.

She didn’t know me at all, but she took a moment out of her day to try to save me a little embarrassment. Such a small gesture.

In these first days of Lent, when we might be realizing that our goals for this season are larger than we can manage, and we may have bitten off more than we can chew, it’s easy to feel defeated. Perhaps we can find inspiration in the little acts of thoughtfulness around us—and look for our own ways to spread Christ’s love to others.

I don’t know what to do about the extraordinarily large, seemingly unsolvable problems in our world—other than to hand those over to God in prayer.

Still, it’s comforting to know that we can show Jesus’ love through the little exchanges and small kindnesses, reaching out gently to friends, to loved ones, and to strangers, to make their day just a little smoother, and adding just a little light to the darkness.

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