SMILE

KEEP SMILING :>)

If at times you feel you want to cry
And life seems such a trial
Above the clouds theres a bright blue sky
So make your tears a smile.
As you travel on lifes way
With its many ups and downs
Remember its quite true to say
One smile is worth a dozen frowns.
Among the worlds expensive things
A smile is very cheap
And when you give a smile away,
You get one back to keep.
Happiness comes at times to all
But sadness comes unbidden
And sometimes a few tears must fall
Among the laughter hidden.
So when friends have sadness on their face
And troubles round them piled
The world will seem a better place
And all because you smiled. :>)
(Author unknown.)

A few weeks ago I an elderly lady in my Sunday School class told me, “You will never know how much your smile means to me.” At first I was shocked. Me? My wife would have even been more shocked. Him? The guy who hates to smile? It’s true. For years I hated to smile always feeling it made me look foolish or like a dork. What is it that exists in our society that keeps guys from feeling comfortable with their smiles unless they are good-looking models with great teeth? Regardless, cameras and smiles I always avoided at all costs.

So what changed that prompted this dear saint of God to thank me for my smile? Quite honestly nearly everything had changed. Over the last several years this quiet introspective melancholic boy has grown into a confident man of God who knows that he has the full favor of God resting upon his life. Another thing that helped me defeat my smile phobia was joining the church choir. At first everyone was telling us how important it was to display an over exaggerated smile or else we would look washed out before the congregation and cameras. My fake smile quickly became a genuine grin. The anointing of God that sweeps over the congregation is truly an amazing thing to witness. Tired world weary Christians often come into a worship service haggard and in need of encouragement. As the music and singing begin most embrace the joy of their salvation and their countenance involuntarily lifts. Anxious faces fade and gladness and cheerfulness overtake them. A sea of jubilant worshipers can not help but lift one’s spirits and soon my eyes had begun to smile with my cheeks rising unconsciously and joining in on the celebration.
Are you encouraged to smile more now? If not Mark Stibich, PhD provides the top ten reasons for you to smile:

1. Smiling makes us attractive.
2. Smiling changes our mood.
3. Smiling is contagious.
4. Smiling relieves stress.
5. Smiling boost your immune system.
6. Smiling lowers your blood pressure.
7. Smiling releases endorphins natural pain killers and Serotonin.
8. Smiling lifts the face and makes you look younger.
9. Smiling makes you seem successful.
10. Smiling helps you stay positive.

My favorite author, (UNKNOWN,) has given us many great thoughts on the subject of smiling. “Everyone smiles in the same language. A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you're at home. The shortest distance between two people is a smile. A smile can brighten the darkest day. It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown. A smile costs nothing but gives much. It enriches those who receive without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he cannot get along without it and none is so poor that he cannot be made rich by it. Yet a smile cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has no more to give. “

In conclusion I went to the scriptures to see what type of encouragement it provided for the word smile. To my surprise the only scriptures I found on the subject came from the book of Job. (The man from the Bible who had so many bad things happen to him that could have easily stolen his joy and his smile.) At the end of his life look what effect Job’s smile had upon his people,

"Men and women listened when I spoke,
hung expectantly on my every word.
After I spoke, they'd be quiet,
taking it all in.
They welcomed my counsel like spring rain,
drinking it all in.
When I smiled at them, they could hardly believe it;
their faces lit up, their troubles took wing!
I was their leader, establishing the mood
and setting the pace by which they lived.
Where I led, they followed." Job 29:23-25 (The Message Bible). :>}