A couple of years ago, I was a sales clerk at a furniture store. While I was working there, I met a lot of really interesting customers. It was great experience in preparing for ministry! Some customers were very nice, some were not-so-nice, and some were incredibly memorable.
One of the most memorable customers was the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. By magazine cover standards, her beauty probably wouldn’t have made any covers. She was probably in her mid-60s. She had grayish-white hair and looked like your run-of-the-mill grandma, except for one very distinguishable feature. She smiled all the time. She even had these great dimples that served as exclamation points on either side of her pleasantly upturned mouth.
As she talked she called me “sweetie” and “honey” and smiled, and I would have given her anything in the store if she would have told me she needed it. I wanted her to shop in the store every day that we were open! I pictured us plopping down on one of the comfortable couches and striking up conversations every day.
All of her smiling made me wonder what she had to smile about. She didn’t look particularly wealthy. She had a nice husband who shopped with her sometimes, and she had that distinctive grandma look, so I figured she probably had children and grandchildren. I hoped she was a believer, because I figured her smile would be an incredibly effective witnessing tool. Whatever it was that made her smile, I wanted it for myself!
My experiences with this beautiful smiley woman made such an impact on me that I decided to make a conscious effort to smile more often. I quickly realized that it’s a little harder than it looks, but with practice it gets a little easier. As I started practicing, I noticed that people smiled back. Smiling more made me want to be nicer. People started being nicer back. It’s a wonderful cycle!
Sometimes it feels like we might not have a lot to smile about. The news can be so depressing and sometimes life simply doesn’t turn out the way we thought it would. But, this is a great time of year to reflect on how the Lord has blessed you and what He’s given you to smile about.
Optimism and gratefulness are so rare that it’s very refreshing to encounter someone who smiles consistently. I think it surprises people when we stop, look them in the eye, and flash our pearly white smile at them. So, do your own smile experiment and let me know how it goes!