Just Walking & Smilin'

Have you ever tried to smile when there was little to smile about? Like driving in a spring snow storm. When I was in school I had difficulty smiling when it came to sports. You see, everyone else was usually picked before me. In the end, someone had to have the last kid so, indirectly, I smiled slightly. Even in high school, Bill & I ran as hard as we could trying not to be the last one across the finish line.

When I was older, and part of a church youth group, I became the president, but only because- no one else wanted the position. I again smiled slightly. It was also because I was the only male there until we started doing some awesome things and then more guys showed up. Then we all smiled as the group grew. I even thought for a while the girls picked me because they were all looking for a boyfriend. Yah, right.

Nineteen eighty was another one of those experiences. School was finished and God’s call on my life was going to be fulfilled as we packed up and moved to rural Saskatchewan. Smiling was easy at first. But mom was sick. In spite of her cancer, she jumped on a bus and rode 3000 km with my little sister just to see us and where we were. She had little to smile about, but we all did when they arrived. After only a few days, things changed and she needed to go home. The day before she left she called me into her room and with a smile that filled the room she asked me to feel her soft new hair because, “it feels just like it did when I was a teenager.” She was the one who taught me to let our smiles come out of our heart, not our circumstance.

Many of us have had similar experiences and lived to tell the tale. But isn’t life good? Doesn’t it all work out in the end? Of course. So I encourage young kids, and adults alike - keep smiling! Life gets better and the gifts God has blessed you with will be well used by the time you have figured out it really was a life filled with smiles. Then you will smile broadly and will totally understand, because God, who had experienced the same thing, walks with you through it all wearing sandals.