From the Archives: Where's Your Smile?

I dug this out of my archives.  I wrote this in December 2010 after a conversation I had with my then 11 year old son, Noah.

It is a great reminder to savor the moments that truly matter.  I pray that it ministers to your heart and encourages you during this blessed Christmas season to smile, smile, smile!

Merry Christmas!

❤ Lisa

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Where’s Your Smile?

Perhaps the best Yuletide decoration is being wreathed in smiles.

~Author Unknown

Why don’t you smile much?

I’m trying to wake up.

I know but you don’t smile much even when you’re not waking up.

This was a conversation I had with my son, Noah, yesterday.  Immediately that green character popped into my head.  You know the one.  The Grinch!  Is that what I’ve become in the busyness of my days?  Not smiling?  Grumpy?  Just like the Grinch?  Is this really how I want to lead my family into the Christmas season?  These are the questions that rolled through my mind after Noah, in his sweet way, asked a simple question.

I am a self-confessed Martha.  This is not an excuse, it’s who I am and I know it.  I am always so focused on what needs to be done and making sure that it’s done right.  I’m always doing 500 things at one time.  As I thought about what Noah said, I realized that in my busyness I’m not enjoying what’s going on around me.  I’m so focused on the tasks at hand that I don’t take in what’s going on.  Tragic!

Imagine if Mary, the mother of Jesus, was that way.  What would she have missed if she were cleaning up the stable, washing their dusty clothes from the long journey to Bethlehem, cooking and baking for the guests that came to visit them after Jesus was born and making handmade birth announcements to send to her relatives?  She would have missed it all. 

She would have missed a cold, clear night made brilliant by a glorious star, the company of shepherds who came, the smell of incense and wise men falling to their knees in adoration of the sweet baby, the incarnation of perfect love.  She would have missed all the blessings surrounding the greatest moment in her life.

In Luke 2:19, Luke tells us this about Mary, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”  She treasured and pondered.  Hmmm.  She actually took the time to stop and take in all that was happening around her right in that moment.  She was blessed, and she knew it!  And, I bet she was smiling!  How could she not?

If Mary took time to stop and take in that which was going on around her, why don’t I?  Why does it take my son to ask me why I’m not smiling for me to realize that I’m not noticing all the blessings around me?  Why do I find it more important to “get things done” than to “treasure and ponder”?  What have I been missing because I’m so busy with “tasks at hand”?  I believe that I’m missing quite a bit. 

I would like to encourage you to take the time to treasure and ponder all the Lord has given you.  I know that I will be doing that.

Don’t let the busyness of the season and everyday life cloud your view of what the Lord has blessed you with.  As you see the lights on your Christmas tree, let that serve as a reminder that your blessings most certainly outnumber those lights.  

The Lord is so good to us.  Let’s show all those around us that we know it by our smiles!