What's Behind a SMILE?

Smile [smahyl]  (Dictionary.com)

   verb:

1)    to assume a facial expression indicating pleasure, favor, or amusement,

2)    to regard with favor:

 noun:

1)    the act or an instance of smiling; a smiling expression of the face.

2)    favor or kindly regard:

                                                         

It didn’t take long for me to start having “I miss you Piper” twangs this morning.  It’s been five months now and I usually do pretty good during the day, especially since I have been working on getting the house ready for sale.  The last two days were spent sanding the peeling paint off the wooden sections of the front porch and then applying the first coat of paint.  It’s felt like the northern California summers I grew up with out here lately, so that also helped my mood.

But today while I sat on the bed and pulled on my socks, I couldn’t help but look at all the Piper pictures I have on the wall and think about the pain that her absence in my life brings to me.  It really got a little unbearable last night while trying to watch TV, but I thought that I was through all that this morning… I guess I was wrong.  Among other things, I began to hone in on the hard truth that in reality… I lost EVERYTHING when I lost my wonderful wife.  

And that all came back this morning when I looked at the memories that the photographs caught of her smile, her laugh, her touch and the sound of her voice.  I couldn’t help but pause and smile to myself though, as that children’s poem that describes girls as “Sugar and spice and everything nice…” suddenly materialized in my mind, and I had to agree that it described her very well!

What captured my attention the most this morning when I looked at the array of black and white and color photos that I had taken of her over the years, was her smile.  That gorgeous expression of joy that formed with the framing of her lips and front teeth, along with the dimples it produced on either side of her lips is usually the first thing that I picture whenever I think of her... without fail!  The powerful medicines that she was taking over the last years of her life did quite a number on her front teeth, even though we tried our best to save them with daily brushing, rinsing and regular dental appointments.  But you know… it never stopped her from smiling up to the point when she lost the ability for most facial movement.

Dictionary.com describes a smile as a facial expression that indicates pleasure, favor or amusement.  I especially liked the thought that it can demonstrate favor toward another individual as well a kindly regard.  That was what Piper brought into just about every room and or situation she walked into.  But was it just an outward motion with nothing behind it?  Well, if you knew her, then you know that was absolutely not the case.  Her smile was a direct link to what lived in her heart… Love, JOY and peace.

It took me a couple of years after I quit my outside job in order to take care of Piper 24/7, but I finally came to the realization that an environment of JOY was very important to Piper’s well-being in her weakened state.  It became very apparent to me that if she spent too much time in an atmosphere of quiet depression and sadness, where a lack of faith prevailed, that it physically affected her afterwards, for up to a couple of days!

As I walked out of the bedroom this morning in the comfort of my clean socks… I drooped my shoulders downward and began to morosely think “I’m not sure I can make it through another day without her” but the thought hardy had time to roost as another thought instantly popped into my mind saying… “But, I can… and I will… through HIS strength!”  And the picture of one of the first and most used scriptures I’ve ever memorized from page 1795 in my NASB Ryrie Study Bible that I purchased in the early 1980’s at a Christian bookstore in Rohnert Park, California profoundly read: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

A little while later as I sat at the dining room table doing my morning Bible study, I turned to that verse again and meditated on the idea of what it is of His that gives us the strength You and I need to make it through the rough patches in life, and without a beat recalled Nehemiah 8:10 (which was probably Piper’s most favorite verse in the whole Bible…) which declares “Today is a holy day for the Lord. Don't be sad because the joy you have in the LORD is your strength." (God’s Word ©) 

So, there you go!  It looked like at that moment, that I had just gone full circle since putting my socks on an hour or so before.  According to God’s Word, it would seem that His JOY gives one the STRENGTH to do what needs to be done… which many times might just seem impossible to us in our human strength… and then there’s the SMILE which serves as our outward expression to prove that we GOT IT! 

Got what?  Well, we got HIM Who has got our back in EVERY situation and need in our lives!  Pretty sweet wouldn’t you say?  It is sure enough to make me smile… even when life has seemingly played the dirtiest trick in the world on me.

I’m continuing to face each day with the truth of HIS Word in my heart, my mind and in my mouth by the words I speak and by the smile it forms!  For me its all a part of Piper’s legacy.  It’s also the way I believe, God wants us to live.

Have a wonderful rest of the week, and as you do, continue to smile and say with me… “I’m expecting to smile all through the day because I know that HIS joy is my strength!”