Regina I don’t know if you have smelled yourself lately, but it is highly likely if you’re the mommy of a toddler, teenager, an athlete or even car mechanic 😉 that you smell like sweat. It doesn’t particularly matter if you slathered on the deodorant or applied your favorite fragrance somehow childhood presses right through all of that, because what you don’t often hear when you become a mom is that the work is unending the sweat and tears keep coming, but you can keep smiling.
…she smiles at the future
We smile through the pain of dying to self, anticipating the glorious work of the master artist as he chisels away at our rough sin stricken edges. For the faith full, smiles mingle with tears and sweat in our line of work. We smile at the days to come, because we glimpse through inspired words that our end will far surpass our beginning. We smile because the promises of God somehow etched on our hearts are true and we have lived long enough to see it and by grace will see it again.
Grace the first time they go to the potty. Grace again when they can feed themselves. Grace once more when they toddle, slipping with scarcely a beat into an unsteady walk. Grace when they rehearse truth, because we all know rehearsal usually precedes the reality of doing. Grace as they lavish love without discrimination, especially on us. Life is laced up with grace. The anxious don’t perceive it. The fearful don’t believe it. The proud can’t experience it. The one humbled can.
When life has worn on you heavy like a weight, for good or ill, Jesus lightens our load. His yoke is easy. His burden is light. Rest comes when we smile. The smile means we trust.
The tears press in the back of our eyes as we hear ourselves leaning in toward anger again. The sweat beads and runs as we chase, try to keep in life these treasures. The smiles overcome both as we trust. That’s what it means to smile, to trust our Good Father. For the Good Story is always coming true in our lives.