When you meet someone, or merely pass a person on the sidewalk, a friendly greeting is called for-most of the time.
You do not have to know him, or her, to justify a word of connection. You just need to do it; clearly, warmly, and, most of the time, briefly. Or quickly. Delivering such gems (that is what a greeting is), is like being a Medicine Man.
Friendliness is not simply a feeling—it is, more importantly, an ACTION. Your perception of feeling friendly towards a a person does nothing for him or her. But the action you take, or the word that you say, will indeed have an effect on that person.
A kind word lifts the spirits of the recipient. Lifted spirits wash out the germs of pessimism, discouragement, depression, fear, sadness, and more. These troublesome sentiments weaken health, retard optimism and joy—which are nutrients for health.
Friendliness is easy! Squeezing someone's elbow, a pat on the back, a greeting, a handshake can do the job. It is so easy that no one can (or should) excuse themselves from this activity. Among other things, it is the opportunity to bring healing to another and to oneself. A friendly word, a greeting, or a gentle touch is like medicine. It heals—discouragement, sadness, fear, loneliness and a lot more.
It is more important to be person-oriented than to be preoccupied with a particular task at hand: grocery shopping, driving the car, taking care of your hunger pangs, or a finding a parking place. Turning our spirit towards people is what Jesus was talking about when He said that we should "love one another".
Friendliness is LOVE. It is a reasonable and possible form of love. The word ‘love’ is an enormously important theme, but it helps to show some of the forms that love can take—like friendliness. ‘Friendliness’ is love!
A greeting, a smile, a touch, a phone call, even a honk of your car horn are forms of friendliness. They warm hearts, trigger smiles, heal a headache, and enhance another's health.
Jesus calls us to "love one another". Let's start today with a quadruple dose of friendliness.