The Weekly Peace: May 9, 2025
Hopeful Living and the Joy of Tipping
I have had to travel a lot in the past few weeks. It can feel like everyone wants a piece of you when you travel. Water is now at least $4 in the airport and a magazine is $12. Ubers cost a lot and food is crazy. If you forgot your toothbrush, you can buy one for a small fortune! It is easy to begin to feel lonely in this maze of upcharges.
Hopeful living involves noticing the goodness that is all around you and responding to it. In the security line at the airport, a young man joked fondly in Spanish with two elderly wheelchair-bound ladies, making them belly laugh! The valet at the hotel, when he saw that it was raining in Austin, told me that the hotel loaned out umbrellas. He didn’t have to bother to do that!
One thing I love to do to highlight the good is to visit the ATM and take out some cash, like $100 or whatever I feel I can afford, and get it in small bills, mostly 5s and 10s. Then I can tip! I tipped the umbrella guy! I tipped the woman who was cleaning the hotel room and gave me extra creams for my coffee. I tipped the guy who drove the shuttle late at night at the airport. In the face of all these upcharges, I can give to those who work hard and expect nothing. It brightens my day and makes them smile.
There is so much generosity and kindness in the world, so much goodness. I want to join that party, I want to dance that dance. As Jesus said, the kingdom of God is near. It is all around us. The more we look for it, the more we will see it.
Every picture tells a story…
Each morning, Kate Moorehead Carroll delivers a short Morning Devotions on YouTube. If you would like these devotions emailed to you, subscribe by clicking this sign-up link. Below are this week’s devotion offerings, enjoy!
Peace out…
Kate Moorehead Carroll is the author of eight books: Vital Signs of Faith: Finding Health in Your Spiritual Life, Angels of the Bible: Finding Grace, Beauty and Meaning, I Witness: Living Inside the Stories of Advent & Christmas, Healed: How Mary Magdalene Was Made Well, Resurrecting Easter: Meditations for the Great 50 Days, Get Over Yourself, God's Here: A Forty-Day Journey of Repentance, Organic God: Lenten Mediations on the Words of Jesus, and Between Two Worlds: Daily Readings for Advent. All books are available for purchase at the St. John’s Cathedral Bookstore and Gift Shop or via www.katemooreheadcarroll.com.
