Say "Cheese"

A cheerful look brings joy to the heart.

Proverbs 15:30

I was waiting in line at the barbershop today for a haircut when I noticed a young man looking in my direction, with a transistor radio to his ear, and smiling quite sheepishly. I looked away for a while and when I looked again, he was still there. He seemed to be looking at me and his smile seemed pretty silly by now. I did the natural thing and turned away and then, very cautiously, looked again out of the corner of my eye. There he was, staring. This time I looked him full in the face, deliberate and unblinking. He seemed even more amused and even chuckled this time. "What in the world is he looking at?" I wondered as I looked around myself. Was it my clothes? My bald head? Maybe the fact that I was eating aya (I'm out of practice)?

But then I noticed the transistor radio to his ear. He was amused by what he was hearing, not by what he was seeing. As a matter of fact, he may have been looking quite alright, but he wasn't seeing at all. My presence there was of no consequence to him. His smiling countenance was determined not by what he could see but by the unseen - the voice in his ear.

I think that's the way we must be as Christians. Our countenance must be determined by the unseen - the voice in our hearts. 1 Thessalonians 5:16 says "Be joyful always." That's admittedly a tall order and seems absolutely impossible until we begin to learn that our circumstances must not determine our joy. Certainly we cannot always be happy. Life's just not that way. A friend once taught me that happiness is just that - happenness. It's dependent on the good things that happen to us and goes out the window when bad things happen. But joy is an entirely different proposition. It does not depend on anything that happens outside of us. It's based entirely on what's going on inside.

I find it easiest to be joyful by assuring myself, quite truthfully, that regardless of my circumstance all things will work for my good, according to God's promise (Romans 8). And I have the benefit of experience to fall back on. And then there's the peace that comes with just knowing God and being assured that He's intimately concerned with what happens to me.

But I believe we must go the extra step beyond just being joyful to showing joy. Take a look at yourself. Does your face bring a smile or a frown to the next person? How does the way you look reflect the way you feel on the inside? Remember, joy is infectious, so don't just have joy. Show it.

Put a smile on your face and watch your joy spread to others around you. In the Proverbs the teacher seems to suggest that our countenance will directly affect the way we feel and how joyful we are. So why don't we go ahead and try to put a smile on everything and give ourselves a better day.

With love, Doosuur.