If You Just Smile . . .

Job 29:24
When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them.

Last week, our second granddaughter, Savannah Jane begins her eighth week of life.  As many of you are aware, Savannah has to stay in the hospital almost the entire month of May due to a detected reaction she has to an approved medication her mom, my daughter, Sarah, takes while pregnant.  I'm still dumbfounded by the whole debacle on the part of her treating doctors, but I remind myself:  This is water under the bridge.  It doesn't matter.  We have a healthy, happy grandchild, and that's all that counts.

We have a family history of babies smiling earlier than later after they are born.  This website states that most babies smile between six and eight weeks, and explains how you can tell if your baby's smile is a communicative reaction to your immediate attentions.  

My son, Daniel, was almost three weeks late in his delivery, and smiled when he was 19 days old, so that puts him around the six-week mark.  My daughter, Sarah, born on her due date, was smiling at six-weeks, too.  First granddaughter, Virginia Rose smiled at an astonishing five weeks!

My mother tells me I smiled at four weeks.  She even grabbed a doubting neighbor as a witness, and that astounded mother of two agreed wholeheartedly.  I was smiling!  And, have you guessed it?  I still wear a smile, often and readily, these many years later.

On Father's Day, the beginning of her eighth week, little Savannah final smiles for real!  All those endless days of being held and fed by loving nurses and volunteers at the hospital when Mom and Dad can't be there, I believe, delay her hereditary smiling trait.  But, oh, what better Father's Day gift could her daddy, John, receive?

The light of her face was so precious to Sarah and John that, when she smiled at long last, they could scarcely believe it.  Especially from this one whose expression is habitually serious and seems to beg the question, "Why am I here?"

I'm sure Job's friends felt the same way when they witnessed him, in the aftermath of his pain and suffering, still able to smile with a joy so overwhelming they couldn't help but know God's hand was in it all.  Job's friends expected a Grumpy Cat.

What they got was entirely different . . .

It is so easy to smile and be cheerful when all is going well, but to do so when we are facing trials and tribulations?  That's when faith must burst the floodgates.  That's when we must rely upon the Lord to see us through.  Those are the times when we learn we can smile sunshine into the rain  and see God's rainbow of hope.

We smile with the faith of a child . . .

~

Are you wearing a smile and ready to share it with others today?

Prayer:  Father God, we thank You for the smiles You have taught us to share and for the love and kindness they so quickly convey.  May we smile more and grump less, recalling Your promise of salvation through Your Son, Christ Jesus, who, through His sacrifice for our sins, brought us ultimate joy.  It in the precious name of Jesus, we pray.  Amen.