"A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit." Proverbs 15:13 NLT
Iris and Lily have been asking me constantly, "Mom, are you happy?" I thought it was cute and funny at first, but they are asking me several times a day now; I'm beginning to worry slightly. I tell them "yes", but they follow up with "but you don't LOOK happy".
I admit, I'm not a smiley person. Never have been. My mom even tells me that I didn't smile much as a baby and toddler. Apparently, when I was born we lived far from my parents' families, and my mom wasn't particularly happy all the time and didn't smile a lot. I guess I picked up on that and didn't smile often as a child.
Even in high school, while I was a cheerleader, I did not smile often. I can remember being reminded constantly to smile by our coaches. Guess they expect the cheerleaders to appear happy to be there! ;)
Fast forward to now, I'm a mom to 3 very observant children. I know I'm not smiling 24/7, but I thought I at least gave the impression that I was happy. I guess not. This is starting to bother me because of the number of times I'm being asked now if I'm happy.
I don't want my girls to think I'm unhappy being here with them or that they don't bring a smile to my face. How do I smile more, though? It's not like I'm aware I DON'T smile. How can I remind myself to smile more? As if I don't have enough things to remember during the day.....now I have to remember to smile?! :)
My girls are very social, very smiley (for the most part), and I'm pretty sure both of those are because of their father. :) I am not very outgoing or overly cheerful looking. Arthur, on the other hand, walks up to strangers to chat and smiles at everyone everywhere.
This verse makes sense, though....."a glad heart makes a happy face..." I have a glad heart, so I guess the point of the verse is to remind us that if we're happy in our hearts, we should be displaying happiness on our faces. If I'm teaching my kids to be joyful and happy with Jesus in our hearts, how are they going to believe what I'm saying if I look like a sourpuss all the time?
The challenge for me this week, then, is to show my happiness on my face. I can be as glad as I possibly can, in my heart, but I need to be expressing it on my face. Who would want to know more about Jesus if they see my sober face 24/7? That doesn't seem very appealing!
"Yes, please tell me more about this Jesus that gives you such a crabby look." LOL.
The world has enough things going on to make us all crabby looking or angry or just sour. The only thing I can think of to make me feel joyous all day every day is the love of Jesus. Why not show it?!
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