Smiling Out-loud

The other day I was thinking about smiling, and if something as simple as a smile can have any effect on... well, anything. In a conversation I once had, someone told me, "That made me smile out-loud!" I liked the thought of that: smiling out-loud. Can a person really smile out-loud? I don't think so, at least not audibly. But I do think your smile says something about you, and so in a sense, when you smile, you are speaking.

When Kirsten and I worked last Summer fertilizing lawns for my dad's business, we always took much longer than needed at each house because the customers kept talking to me. We were taking too long, and we had other lawns to fertilize. Things needed to speed up, but I couldn't just leave when a customer was talking to me about their niece in Chicago who sings, or their 2-year-old son who is being potty trained, or their sister who works at the hospital, or their grandson who plays football and is around my age... hmm, do you have a boyfriend, honey? Hah! Got that a lot.

"Don't look at them, just do your work," advised my sister, who is a little less caring of people than I am at times.

"I can't not look at them, I have to knock on their door and ask if I can come onto their property. How can I not look at them?" said I, exasperated.

"Well look at them, then. But don't smile." she replied.

So I tried it. At the next house I knocked on the door, talked to the elderly lady who appeared at its entrance, and continued on with my work. I did not smile (it was hard!), and unlike every customer prior to her, she did not come out of her house and proceed to tell me her life story. She stayed inside and watched me from the living room window with a very wary eye. Of course, she could have acted the same way whether I smiled at her or not, but I wasn't willing to risk not smiling again. I'd rather be talked to than glared at. Heh.

Since our experimental "group" was so small (one person), the result of our experiment probably wasn't very accurate. But I still think Kirsten had a point about smiling. Smiling warms people to you.

I like to watch people smile, myself; I think a smile is as individual to a person as their fingerprint, or their laugh. Some people's faces crinkle up when they smile, so that "smile lines" peak out from around their eyes. Some people smile big, wide, toothy grins. Other people smile sarcastically, with dancing eyes, and they look at you with a teasingly blithe smirk. Still others come into their smiles slowly, like a flower waking up to the sun---their faces brighten, and then bloom into a happy sigh. If you pay attention, it isn't very hard to tell whether someone's smile is genuine or insincere, happy or sad, tired or energetic. I think someone's smile says a lot about them.

I wonder if God smiles? I'm almost positive that He does. I also think that, if we pay attention, we can see Him smiling. I think God's smile shows up through the glowing colors of a sunrise, or the playful pitter-patter of rain on a window, or the warmth of the sun on your face in the Summer. God smiles. Once again (and I speak to myself when I say this), we just need to pay attention.

I also wonder if my theory about smiling and people can relate to God, as well. Can we learn something about God from the way He smiles? From simply watching Him smile? If I take time to notice and appreciate a sunrise, the rain, or the comforting warmth of the sun, am I actually noticing God? And if I am right in saying that smiling is a way of speaking, then can I hear God through His smile in a sunrise, the rain, the sun, or whatever way He shows up in the "simple" everyday happenings of life?

Does the Bible say anything about God smiling?

"May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you." (Numbers 6:25.)

There you go.  And so be it.