Author John Shea shared a story about the effect of a deep blessing. It’s the story of a woman he met while teaching in Ireland. During a summer school there, he had asked each person in his class to recount an incident of blessing from their own life. One woman, very timidly, shared the following: “I came from a large family and, each Sunday morning to ready them for church, my mother would line up all of us and then, one by one, wash each of our faces and comb our hair. We would wait patiently in line for our turn and then go out to play while the mother finished with the rest. One Sunday, I was second in line and anxious to finish my turn because it would mean nearly a half hour of playtime while the others were being washed and combed. Then, just before my turn, my mother noticed that our youngest sister, at the end of the line, was missing a shoelace and asked me to go into the bedroom and get one. But, not wanting to lose my place in the line and given that Mother did not ask me again, I decided not to get the shoelace. My mother said nothing to me as she combed my hair. When Mother was finished, I went out to play. However, after playing for about ten minutes, I felt very guilty and returned to the house to get the shoelace for my baby sister. When I entered the house, mother had just removed her own shoelace and was bent down, putting it into my baby sister’s shoe. Feeling doubly guilty, I went into my parents’ bedroom and got a shoelace, and as my mother was combing our baby sister’s hair, I bent down and put the shoelace into my mother’s shoe. While I was doing this, my mother said nothing but gently stroked my hair.” A day later, Shea, who had the habit of sitting under a particular tree every day during the afternoon break and smoking a cigar, had settled himself under that tree but had forgotten to bring a cigar. Out of nowhere, the woman appeared: “Where is your cigar today?” she asked shyly. “I forgot to bring one!” He answered. Immediately she produced a cigar, gave it to him, and without a word, disappeared. The next day Shea found her sitting by herself at the back of the room. He went to her and confronted her with these words: “THE CIGAR IS THE SHOELACE, ISN’T IT?” “Yes,” she answered, “Ever since that day that my mother stroked my hair, through all these years and long after she has died, I have had this secret covenant with her; I go through life supplying what is missing!” Blessing begets blessing. When we are treated gently, gentleness grows in us. We all make an unconscious secret covenant with those who have blessed us, who have stroked our hair gently.