Smile!

Do you know how much good it can do? Simple and momentary, but able to create a lasting impression. It has the power to comfort, to heal, to communicate care and warmth, love and encouragement. The value of this can’t be measured. It costs nothing to give, but means the world to him who receives it. What is it?

 

A Smile.

 

I love smiles. Given purely and selflessly, they are like a hug, or arms outstretched in welcome, a quiet conversation, a joyous reunion. Some of my most treasured memories are of the smiles I have been offered.

 

You can do a world of good just by smiling at someone. All day, every day. Show them you care, show them God cares, by smiling. It won’t just make them feel better, either…a cheerful heart is like a cure to its bearer.

 

Smile at your Mama, the clerk at Wal-Mart, the neighbor driving by, the homeless lady on the park bench, just smile! Rejoice in God’s beauty and His love, and share His life with others. Even if you think it’s a dinky offering, I can assure you that it is not.

 

A pure smile is a treasure too valuable to keep hidden.

~A Verse to Remember~

Sometimes it can be very difficult to carry on through life. Maybe every attempt you’ve made seems to be crashing down, or you feel alone, or that God has forgotten you. You might be friendless, without a church home, or weighed down by a load of burdens that you don’t know what to do with. There are countless reasons to feel like giving up. Whether other people understand them, your hardships are true to you. Life can be difficult. 

 I was having a hard day several weeks ago, and came across this beautiful verse in God’s Word. (Don’t you love discovering new verses? The Bible is timeless for that reason, I think; it never goes out of date!) I hope it will uplift you as much as it did me. 

 

“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name.

And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth Him.

Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.” 

—Malachi 3:16-18

 

Next time you are feeling low, that you don’t matter, that life just isn’t worth the hardship you experience, I pray you’ll remember this verse…and the truth that if you are God’s, you are a Jewel. His precious, precious jewel. He has not forgotten you or me, even though it feels that way sometimes. We are too precious to forget. He hears our prayers (v. 16a) and they are not lost on His ears.

 

Petra