“A cheerful heart brings a smile to your face; a sad heart makes it hard to get through the day. (Proverbs 15:13 NASB)
The holiday weekend is about to begin. Some of you probably got a head start way back at the end of last year because your seniority allowed you to schedule a day or two off before your company’s July 4th holiday. Look at you! You are already smiling. And those who were not so fortunate, well they will be smiling at the end of the day.
The writer who penned the Proverb above, writing under the inspiration of God, reveals the root of a smile, a happy face: a cheerful heart. Sometimes we are so cognitive, so caught up in worry, or so concerned about something, that we forget we have many reasons, too many to list, for having a cheerful heart. If you were to start compiling your list of reasons to be cheerful, they would outnumber the reasons you have to let sadness dominate you and make it hard to get through the day. And while your cheerful heart produces a smile as you ponder on all the blessings you have experienced in the past and even today as early as it may be; while your cheerful heart lightens your demeanor, it fulfills a duo purpose, not just affecting you, but definitely affecting those around you too. Conversely, when you don’t smile or seldom put on a happy face, you can make it hard for self and others. Have you ever been around people who never smile, but stare at you with a straight face, a serious face to the max, a stubborn face set on not smiling, or a sad face that seems like it can never be interrupted? It affected you, didn’t it. Tell the truth now!
Yesterday I went to a local burger restaurant, a franchise of a well-known chain fast food joints where smoke is always pouring out of the chimney due to the broiling process it uses. The employees had tee shirts with this saying on the back of their shirts, “Extend the smile.” It had an immediate impression on me, clearly spoke to me, and caused me to evaluate the times where I am engrossed in thoughts, focused on other things, especially things related to my role as a pastor, and I forget to smile. Pastors are always preoccupied with thoughts related to the Lord’s sheep that he acts as the under-shepherd. More than once through any day, I have to often tell myself, “So put on a happy face.” I don’t know about you, but I have plenty, a plethora of reasons to smile. And these many reasons are not all about what the Lord has done for me either. You see, one of the reasons is because smiling dresses me up in such a way, compliments my whole being, and makes me a better witness for the Lord! Afterall, who is going to believe me when I say, “The Lord has sure been good to me” or sing, “Happy in Jesus” or who will pay attention to me when I open my mouth and raise my voice with the choir and declare, “O Happy Day” if I never smile?
You want to know something? if I don’t smile or put on a happy face for no other reason than to communicate that I am indeed happy with Jesus, I need to do that, extend my smile more. In the spirit of transparency, truthfully, I’m telling you that I have to work on it more, and I will, starting today. How about you? Maybe you did not need this meditation. Perhaps it just reinforces what you have been doing all along, extending your smile. If that is the case, maybe the advice will come in handy in a future time. In any event, enjoy your long weekend by extending your smile and putting on a happy face! I’ll do the same! I will close with an excerpt from a poem by E.B. Cox that should be inspirational. Be blessed!
You ask the value of a smile? Then go with me a little while.
To cot whereon the sufferer lies, and ask its value in his eyes.
What does it mean to him who’s ill. To whom the sad face can but chill.
And cause him to wonder if this life is aught but sad – and worthless quite.
He will answer, we well know, “A smile was what helped heal my woe.”
And with the leave of friend so wise, the smile remained with him a prize.
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King