What makes you smile?

My children often make me smile, whether by the things they do or what they say.

Like when the boys were being silly with their friends…

 

Or when our not-so-little-anymore baby girl struck a goofy pose during the photo shoot for her senior portraits….

 

 

Or the time a little butterfly came and landed on our middle child’s nose….

 

My dad could also make me smile. He has been in heaven seven years now, but he left behind a legacy… and some funny memories….

The initials on his shirt were his own, but they also belonged to the university I attended. I remember when he took me there as a freshman, years ago. As we walked up to the dorm for the first time, he stopped at the door, looked down at his feet, and said, “Imagine coming to a place you’ve never been before and finding your initials on the doormat.”

The initials were also engraved on the flatware in the dining common. As we went through the line for dinner, he held up one of the utensils and asked, “Do you think they’ll miss this fork?”

It’s memories like these that I will cherish until the day I join my dad in heaven.

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The word smile does not appear in the Bible, but happy is in there 25 times, and glad with its derivatives (gladness, gladly, etc.) appears a whopping 144 times in Scripture. And don’t forget joy, all 155 of them, as well as the 266 occurrences of rejoice in its various forms. And we might as well count blessed too, because it means “happy.” How many times is that word used in Scripture? Including its other forms (bless, blessing, etc.), you will find this word used 463 times.

All told, there are at least 1,053 smiles in the Bible. Here is one of them….

Psalm 31:7  I will be glad and rejoice in Your mercy: for You have considered my trouble; You have known my soul in adversities.

You see, those of us who know the Lord are not happy because we have no troubles. We are happy because we have God. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

Now that is something to smile about!