The Stamina to Smile
My wife and I are watching the first season of The Crown, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at the life of Queen Elizabeth II. Not for the first time, I'm realizing how easy it is to dismiss or diminish the physical and emotional stamina involved in a life in politics. The Queen is on a tour of Australia which requires her to present the best face of the monarchy to a different city nearly every day for almost two months. Her face is literally cramping. Like an athlete who must perform, she opts for an injection that makes it possible for her muscles to meet expectations.
This makes the consistency of God's smile upon His people all the more amazing. Professional smilers faint and grow weary, but God's ongoing delight in His own does not dim. What's more, rather than work and rest periods as Prince Philip sensibly counsels the Queen, God orders His representatives to remind His people constantly of His smile in an integral part of gathering in His Name called the Aaronic blessing. May God, the priest is taught by God Himself to say, cause His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you, and give you peace. The Monarch of all monarchs, the King of Kings neither faints nor grows weary, even in the most uncalculating overflow of the heart's true attitude, the facial expression.
Why is a smile such a paramount priority? In the script, the Queen gives us a clue. When her practical husband Prince Philip suggests that she simply smile less while taking the boxes of her duty, she knows the impact. She has one of those faces, she says, which will convey the mistaken impression that she is cross if she isn't actually smiling.
Neutrality doesn't work. This fallen world gives us so many signals that we are disappointing. Our own hearts give us so many reminders, accurate and not, that we are less than we could be, that we are actively probing for confirmation of this disparity in the reactions of other people. What doesn't actively encourage in an email or a text, or a countenance, is incorporated as confirmation of coldness.
Since Christians have regular reminders of reasons to smile at least as often as the Aaronic blessing, our "injections" which release our smile ought to be less painful than the Queen's. Nearly every verse of the Bible, once we train ourselves with the Holy Spirit's help to look, contains confirmation of who we are in Christ or, equally encouragingly, the wrath He took for us so that we experience the fullness of the divine smile.
Even Christ's reminder to His disciples of His suffering as a counterintuitive prelude to the full revelation of His glory, my daily portion from Luke 17:25 can release it genuine, ongoing smile. How? The Christian who really understands we exist between the Luke 17:25 reality of suffering like Christ specifically so He can develop His character enough and sharing in His big reveal referred to in Luke 17:24 ought never to be disillusioned. We, grounded in Scripture, ought to have no illusions left. Any cloud between us and a smile which would get the world's attention, by contrast, is momentary indeed.
This makes the consistency of God's smile upon His people all the more amazing. Professional smilers faint and grow weary, but God's ongoing delight in His own does not dim. What's more, rather than work and rest periods as Prince Philip sensibly counsels the Queen, God orders His representatives to remind His people constantly of His smile in an integral part of gathering in His Name called the Aaronic blessing. May God, the priest is taught by God Himself to say, cause His face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you, and give you peace. The Monarch of all monarchs, the King of Kings neither faints nor grows weary, even in the most uncalculating overflow of the heart's true attitude, the facial expression.
Why is a smile such a paramount priority? In the script, the Queen gives us a clue. When her practical husband Prince Philip suggests that she simply smile less while taking the boxes of her duty, she knows the impact. She has one of those faces, she says, which will convey the mistaken impression that she is cross if she isn't actually smiling.
Neutrality doesn't work. This fallen world gives us so many signals that we are disappointing. Our own hearts give us so many reminders, accurate and not, that we are less than we could be, that we are actively probing for confirmation of this disparity in the reactions of other people. What doesn't actively encourage in an email or a text, or a countenance, is incorporated as confirmation of coldness.
Since Christians have regular reminders of reasons to smile at least as often as the Aaronic blessing, our "injections" which release our smile ought to be less painful than the Queen's. Nearly every verse of the Bible, once we train ourselves with the Holy Spirit's help to look, contains confirmation of who we are in Christ or, equally encouragingly, the wrath He took for us so that we experience the fullness of the divine smile.
Even Christ's reminder to His disciples of His suffering as a counterintuitive prelude to the full revelation of His glory, my daily portion from Luke 17:25 can release it genuine, ongoing smile. How? The Christian who really understands we exist between the Luke 17:25 reality of suffering like Christ specifically so He can develop His character enough and sharing in His big reveal referred to in Luke 17:24 ought never to be disillusioned. We, grounded in Scripture, ought to have no illusions left. Any cloud between us and a smile which would get the world's attention, by contrast, is momentary indeed.
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