"My dearest treasure the light of his smile"

You know how they say that someone's smile will light up a room? We've all known people who are like that. We also cherish the smile of someone who is waiting for us beyond security in the baggage claim at the airport - someone whom we have not seen in a while. All of a sudden their smile communicates joy, and the receptors in our mind light up like crazy. Or when you came home for the first time from being away at college and your mom met you at the door with a bigger smile than you ever remember her mustering before. We treasure those moments.

Since we are created in God's image, we must have inherited from him the ability to smile! I think he smiled when he looked at his creation and said "It is good," and when he said, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." He still smiles when one of US is creative and he finds what we've done to be good, when he says to himself, "That one over there is one of my children," when he sees one of us who has been away for a long time, and when he is pleased with us and our behavior.Hey, he's a loving God; I can't imagine his being dour!

We all want to live in ways that will make our loving Parent happy. Truth is that one of the reasons I stayed out of trouble (for the most part!) as a teenager was that I wanted to please my parents -- not so much that I feared what they might do if I didn't behave. I'm the same way with my heavenly Parent: I want to bring a smile to his face; and when I do, I treasure that moment, that possibility that he might be pleased with me.

I have that sense of God's smile at three times in particular: 1) when I am serving others from a pure motive, expecting no recognition or anything in return; 2) when I'm talking about him with others, discussing his Word and its implications to daily life; and 3) when I am sincerely going after God in worship -- especially when I sing. I'll take that one step further: especially when I sing hymns.

I think God enjoys being praised by his people-- that our authentic worship brings a smile to that glorious visage once revealed in the face of his Son Jesus who may well have been the all-time greatest smiler, showing extreme pleasure when his followers "got it."

Our assignment: to keep God smiling!

Listen to this hymn

Hymn: "Living for Jesus" - Thomas O. Chisholm (1866-1960)

Tune: LIVING