“A smile costs nothing, but creates much. It enriches those who receive it without impoverishing those who give it. It happens in a flash, and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad and nature’s best antidote for trouble. Yet, it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is no earthly good until it is given away. Nobody needs a smile so much as those who have none left to give.” Sign in a Department Store
I recently lunched with a friend of mine who just lost her sister to cancer. As she was telling me about her sister, she was smiling as she relived moments. It seems that the one thing everybody agreed upon when thinking of her sister was her smile. I love that she was known for that. Years ago I learned that if you give a smile, it takes a really hard hearted person not to return it.
There was a lady in our church in Newborn who gave her smiles away every day and brightened so many lives. Betty owned and operated the only “store” in the tiny community. She not only stocked the shelves with bread, milk, and canned goods, but she flipped burgers and grilled hot dogs every day for hunters, workers, and the people who lived there. Betty’s husband, Steve, worked for Governor George Busbee in Atlanta, and they could have lived anywhere. She certainly didn’t need to work, but she loved the interaction with people, and she was always smiling and laughing.
At this point in our ministry, I was a stay at home/office mom, so I would strap Rob onto the back of my bike, and we would ride up to see “Miss” Betty at the store. As an added bonus, we would watch the train come through town. Betty, Steve, and their family adopted us, and we were always included in their Sunday lunches, Friday night fish fries, and generally anytime the family got together. I don’t remember knowing a stronger, sweeter woman.
When Steve died of lung caner, she smiled through her tears as the community paid our respects to him. When her only daughter died after a fight with cancer leaving a husband and two small children, she once again smiled through her ordeal. I often thought about how people “smile through tears” and how we explain that phenomenon. I think sometimes we are so miserable with our situation such as loss, a disappointment, a death, that we cry. Then, we think of a memory or something in our lives connected with that person or situation that is so positive that we smile thinking of it. I like to think both of the people I mentioned smiled so much because Jesus made their life so positive and so full of love and thanksgiving. They smiled through tears because they have hope, family and friends who love them, and a Savior who knows what it is like to suffer and emerge victorious!
I know a smile can change lives, it changes mine. The picture is just to make you smile!!
“Let your smile change the world. Don’t let the world change your smile.” John Walker