Smiling with your eyes....

Smiling with your eyes...it sounds a bit like the line from "Bull Durham" (one of my favorite movies, by the way) where the female lead tells the pitcher he needs to "breathe through your eyelids". I laugh everytime I hear that line. So comical it is to me, yet I tell people to smile with your eyes...do the people I tell that to, think THAT is comical?

I like to look at people's smiles. I'm not a smile stalker, it's just something I've done my whole life.

When I was a child, hiding behind my mother (I used to be quite shy around strangers), I could read a lot in a person's smile. Were they nice? Did they like little girls? As I grew into a teen I began to read with different emotions - That girl is so "two-faced". Did she really just smile at MY boyfriend like that? That smile is so fake...I wonder are they hurting inside like me?

Over the years I've perfected many smiles. Some good and some bad.

The "so excited to see you" smile.

The "Wow! That's amazing" smile.

The "thank you for the kind words" smile.

The "you're the best dog/cat a girl could have" smile.

The "someday you'll get yours" smile.

The "you done good, kid" smile.

The "just passing in the grocery aisle and look up" smile.

The "Oh Lord, help me...I can't let anyone know how broken I am" smile.


Each one has it's own place in my day to day existance. Some I'm not so proud of - they speak of the sinner in me.....but.....

But my favorite smile is the one that involves my eyes. The one that reaches down into my soul and radiates outward. That smile is my true smile. My signature smile. The smile that says to the recipients, "We have connected, and for that I'm glad".

Smiles are very telling. And the stories can be amazing yet painful at the same time.

When I am old and gray(er) I will be proud of the lines around my mouth and eyes. Botox? For this face? This canvas God has given me? Each crease - large or small, every age spot I will hold up as a trophy to the race I have run and the life I've lived and the smiles I have shared with those I love and those who I just see in passing.

So smile with your eyes.


Radiate.


Be the person God created you to be...and maybe you'll spark a smile in another person that pushes them to be the person God created them to be.



Light in a messenger’s eyes brings joy to the heart, and good news gives health to the bones

Proverbs 15:30