22October2014 Smile

I love this photo.  It's out of focus, the lighting's off, one of the boys' eyes are shut and the other one is looking down.  What makes this photo?  The beautiful smile in the middle!

I know this lady.  I've known her for a long time, nearly twenty years now, but I have never seen her smile.  Frown, yes.  Scowl, yes.  Grimace, yep.  I've even heard her laugh but it was more of a scoff than a giggle.  God bless her she doesn't smile.  Been a believer a long time, but never smiles.  In Church whenever the doors are open, no smile.  Had a bunch of children, no smile.  Beautiful grandkids, no smile.  Nice home, no smile.  New car, no smile.  Lots of friends, no smile.  Been married to the same man for a least fifty years, no smile.  (D says that explains it but I digress).

I just don't get it.  She has all her teeth and they're nice teeth too, so that's not it.  Her jaw muscles appear to function properly.  I just saw a picture of her at a birthday party on Facebook.  Every person in that photo, nearly twenty folks, are smiling....except her.  (Okay, just stop it!  You're trying to guess who I'm talking about but the who is not important here. We all know the type.)

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with a giant.  Hani can't been more than 5'6" but he's a giant nonetheless.  I felt like a child in his presence and I've got him by at least half a foot.  What makes him so large?  The man is a sharing machine.  He lives squarely in the middle of a closed country, a place were it's not only frowned upon but it's illegal to share and yet he proclaims...boldly.

Hani has been stabbed, had a gun held to his head, beaten with inches of his life but he keeps on sharing.  As he told me his life's story he smiled.  It wasn't a fake thing either.  I didn't even notice the condition of his teeth, he made not have had any for all I know.  What I did notice, what I couldn't miss was the joy that emitted from Hani's face as he recalled his twenty-year walk with God.  And when he talked about a new believer, a lady that was sharing with all her friends and family now, he positively beamed.  Joy unfettered!  

I want to be like Hani.  Not just because of his unashamed proclaiming but because in spite of persecution the man simply knows from whence true joy comes....and he lives it.  Oh LORD, I want to smile!