Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love.
We pass people every day—the barista, a colleague, someone on the sidewalk—and most interactions happen in a kind of neutral zone. But what Mother Teresa is pointing at here is that a smile isn't just politeness; it's the first bridge between strangers. It says wordlessly: I see you as worth noticing. There's something almost radical about that in a world where we're often rushed or guarded.
The tricky part is that smiling can feel like it requires something we don't have—energy, good mood, the right circumstances. But that's not quite what she means. A real smile, even a small one, isn't about performing happiness. It's about choosing to meet someone with openness rather than indifference. It shifts something in how two people occupy the same space together. That shift, repeated enough, is how connection actually begins.
What makes this enduring is that it names something true: love doesn't usually announce itself dramatically. It starts small and quiet—with attention, with a willingness to be warm. The smile is just the visible evidence that you've decided the other person matters enough to meet them halfway. In that tiny gesture is everything.
Sign in to leave a comment or reply to one.
Sign inMother Teresa was a Catholic nun and missionary known for her lifelong dedication to helping the poor and sick in Kolkata, India. She founded the Missionaries of Charity, a religious congregation that runs hospices and homes for people with terminal illnesses, leprosy, and HIV/AIDS, earning her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979.