Sometimes You Just Gotta Smile


            When you have car problems on 75% of the home fleet… 

            When the furnace at church (from 1969) finally craps out… 

When you open the oatmeal for a semi-healthy breakfast and realize it went out of date 10 months ago… 

When you go to the pharmacy and you are picking up more prescriptions that the guy in the motorized cart with oxygen… 

When the dog walks over to her bowl of dry dog food and looks at you intently as if to say, “Really? Really? That’s the best you can do?”… 

When you shift gears in your automobile and the shifter comes off in your hand and that wasn’t included in previous 75%… 

When you experience all 4 seasons in 3 days and don’t have to travel… 

When you see the energetic toddler in the buggy at the grocery store loading up the buggy with stuff when mom has her back turned… 

When you agree to go along with your son and eat better. My thoughts have always been that more is better but Tammy says that doesn’t apply to eating… 

When you feel like your mind may actually crack from the stress of, well, just life… 

When in the public restroom the person in the stall beside you does what we all do in a restroom only not so loud and violent and smelly like… 

When you start your car, turn on the wipers and then forget something inside that you have to go retrieve. Upon returning to your vehicle, the powers that control your world cause the wipers to move at exactly the right moment when you are leaning forward to get back in your car sending rain water; well you get the picture… 

When you realize that your babies have grown up…

 
When you realize that they have grown up well…

  

Yeah, I know. Some are head scratchers. Some are funny. Some are not. It doesn’t fix the problem to smile but it can start fixing you. Honestly, look at it this way. Whatever it is, it has already happened. Whether you caused it or someone else did, or maybe no one did; either way it happened. So the best thing to do is smile and get to work fixing it. Sometimes the smile is, “I’m gonna kill you!” And sometimes the smile is, “Oh great, here we go again!” Sometimes the smile is, “I’m so glad I’m not you!” and still other times it’s, “Wow! Just wow!”

So as I sit in my office working on my next message series on the faith of a child I guess that is where this comes from. You see, a child takes his lead from his older siblings, or other older people, or her parents. Have you ever seen a child fall down and the parents start laughing and clapping trying to encourage the baby to try again? The child usually claps and laughs too, right? The toddler at that moment is oblivious to the minor discomfort because mommy is laughing or daddy is cheering and laughing, therefore it must be ok. After all they love me and take care of me and if they’re not worried or upset then I don’t have to be either. But, I understand that we are more educated than a toddler and we know more than a baby. We don’t have someone watching over us day and night having our best interests in mind. Right? I mean, what is God? Isn’t he a terrible being that exists solely to “get me”?

We all should spend some time with elementary school or pre-school age children and see what they think about God. We will find that they believe that God is for them. They believe that God is with them. They believe that God forgives them. And best of all, they believe that God can do anything. But then we get educated by institutions and by life and we start to fade on our beliefs that God is all of those things and instead we start believing that God might be trying to punish us. We don’t like to admit it but we tend to believe that God doesn’t stay with usand he doesn’t forgive and maybe he can do anything but he won’t for us.

Oh, also, those children that we’ve been talking about? They are probably going to believe whatever it is that you believe. Yeah, it’s pretty much the way it works. If you don’t have children or you do have really young children then you will find that they will do more of what they see you doing than what they hear you saying. It’s another one of those that should’ve been on earlier list of things that make you smile. Because of your love, your relationship, the time you spend, and your care for them, they will, more likely than not, grow up to be very much like you!

So, what has happened this week that you really really need to smile about? If you can’t think of anything, you are welcome to read over my list and laugh at me. By the way, I just got a call that my clothes washer quit working! J
 
Smile! It’s all gonna be ok.
Pastor Dad

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