CAN YOU SMILE?
by: Sandy Domelle
Recently, while I was standing in the hallway at our church, I saw a lady who didn’t seem to be smiling. In fact, she looked a little sad. This lady was probably just having a rough day. As I stood there, a line of children came down the hallway and several of them were kids who rode the bus that morning. As the children stood there waiting to go into the auditorium, one of the girls noticed the lady. As she stared at the lady, she too noticed that she wasn’t smiling and looked a little forlorn. The little girl tapped the lady on the arm and asked her, “Can you smile?” The lady looked at her and said, “Yes, I’m not feeling very happy today.” This little girl was quite persistent in her concern. She then asked the lady if she was saved. The lady said, “Yes.” The girl then asked if she had her family at church, and the lady said, “Yes.” You could then see that the little girl’s mind was turning. She smiled up at the lady and said, “If you are going to Heaven, and you have your family in church today, you have a lot to smile about.” She then told the lady that she too was going to Heaven, but her family doesn’t come to church, and she wasn’t sure that most of them would go to Heaven.
How simple the mind of a child works. She knew if this lady had Jesus, she definitely had much to smile about. This thought has stayed with me the past few weeks. Our smile says a lot about us personally! Your smile can reflect a good day, a happy time in your life, your health, the love of Jesus and so much more. It’s so important that as we get up in the morning that we don’t just dress our body with clothes, dress our spirit with our Bible time and prayer, but that we also don’t forget to dress our face with a smile.
Have you ever sat and just watched the people around you? The fun part about watching people is that most of them don’t suspect they are being watched. We can see them do funny things and learn so much by sitting and watching. I challenge you to look around the next time you are at church. Can you pick out the happy people? There are people who never seem to have a smile. How sad it would be that you are one of those who people look at and don’t see smiling. Our pastor, Dr. Bob Gray II, is almost always smiling. He has a catchy spirit when we are around him because his smile takes over his personality. He draws people to him with his infectious personality. That’s the way each Christian should be. I want to be so aware of smiling because it’s a tool I can use to draw people to Jesus.
When I think of smiling, I think of the story of the Queen of Sheba. She came to prove Solomon with hard questions because she didn’t believe the reports of what she heard about his kingdom. After surveying his kingdom and seeing how the LORD blessed him, She said in 2 Chronicles 9:6, “…the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.” She told Solomon that what she heard was only half-truths because what she saw exceeded the reports she heard.
Yet, there was something that caught her attention that contributed to her making the statement above. She said in 2 Chronicles 9:7, “Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.” Twice she mentioned the word “happy.” Apparently, the disposition of the servants had a great impact on her analysis of Solomon’s kingdom. She wouldn’t have known they were happy if they weren’t smiling. She saw the servants smiling as they were working, and it caught her attention. What if only one servant was smiling and the rest had no expression? Do you think it would have made the impact that it did? I don’t think so! Because all of his servants were smiling, it made an impact on her to think that even the servants were happy.
You may be happy on the inside, but you need to let your face express what you are feeling. People can’t see how you are feeling on the inside, so the only other way for them to see how you are feeling is through the expressions on your face. If you don’t smile, then people will think you are not happy. What if the Queen of Sheba saw you, would she think you are happy? A smile on your face will show others that serving the LORD is the best thing in all the world. Let me give you some suggestions on how to keep a smile on your face.
1. Ask God to help you smile.
Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it shall be given you;…” If you are having a problem with smiling, then you should ask God to help you to learn to smile. The Holy Spirit lives inside you, and He can help you with your smile if you will ask Him.
2. Give yourself reminders to smile.
Often we don’t smile because we just don’t think about it. An absence of a smile isn’t always proof that we’re not happy, sometimes it’s just that we forgot to remind our face to react to what is going on inside. I am a person who will put Post-it notes in places to remind me to do something. If you are having a problem with smiling, then you could remind yourself to smile by simply writing the word “Smile” on a Post-it note and putting them in different places. Every time you see the Post-it note, then purposely put a smile on your face.
3. Learn to laugh, and you will smile.
One way you can be sure to put a smile on your face is to laugh. Have you ever seen someone laughing who doesn’t have a smile on their face? If you will learn to laugh, then you will find having a smile is not that hard.
4. Sing “happy songs.”
Music plays a big part in your disposition. If you are always listening to slow, sad music, then you will find it hard to smile. If you are listening to the music of the world, you will find it hard to smile. Our family likes to listen to “happy music.” We call Christian music that is upbeat and cheerful, “happy music.” Start your day off by listening to “happy music.” When you’re listening to “happy music,” then sing along with it. It will help you keep a smile on your face.
One of your desires should always be to have a smile on your face. Don’t let people look at you and wonder why you are not happy. Let your face express what is going on in your heart.