What makes you smile? It is a lot like the song from the Sound of Music “A few of my favorite things.” But this is a little simpler. What makes you smile? Your child, your pet, your favorite song? I think it is easy to say that all those things can bring a quick smile to your face. Seeing a friend, watching a video of a panda, doing something that you love can also make you smile. Some people are natural smilers, most are not.
If you ask a child what makes them smile you get a pretty simple answer. You get answers like unicorns, batman, Darth Vader, trucks, my point is the things that make them smile are the generally the things that they play with or see on TV.
As we grow up, those things bring a quick smile to our face but no longer hold the same power that a unicorn or snoopy did when we were six. That is not to say I am not going to smile when I see a butterfly or alligator or a squirrel having to do a pull up to get food. Music will always make me smile, even cry.
If we listen to Sister Maria in the “Sound of Music” the things that we think of that our suppose to make us smile are suppose to make us feel better, unfortunately, I fear that only works when you are 6 or in a Rogers and Hammerstein production. I wish life was like a movie or musical that within 2 hours everything worked out just right, you found your true love, and you never had to worry about anything ever again.
But what is it about that struggle, whether it is to smile, or set your worry aside that is so hard for us to do? Why do we want to hang on to our hurt, our anger, our pain? Is it easier? Is it safer? For some it is all they have ever known so it is a way of life, for others they have gotten so trapped in their pain they no longer know how to let it go. For some it is safer. It is amour that they have put on to protect themselves from the world.
Unicorns, butterflies, pandas, or whatever you name that makes you smile cannot always get past that pain. It will for a second or minute or maybe even a day. But at the end of the 24 hours if you truly haven’t laid down what hurts, what causes pain, why you wear your amour, the next time you see something that used to make you smile, it will take a little longer to smile, it will last a little less time, and eventually you will no longer find yourself smiling at those things that used to bring you brief moments of happiness, let alone finding happiness in the simple things in life.
Give yourself forgiveness, allow yourself to heal, let down your amour and let someone in. It is so hard to do. How do I forgive myself for what I have done? How do I forget the pain that I feel? How do I let down that amour and let someone in without getting hurt again? There are no easy answers, but there is light at the end of tunnel. That light comes in so many different forms, focus on the light.
For some the light might be music or a particular song, for others that light is a friend, and for some that light will be God. Here is the amazing thing about God. You can have a relationship with God wherever you are in life. God, like a song or a friend will meet you where you are at, angry? That is Ok, God can handle it, hurt? God understands, lost? God will show you where you need to be. Unsure of God’s presence? Look for what makes you smile, look for that rainbow, look for that butterfly, look for that friend that seems to text at the right time. I am not saying that God will fix everything. You must want to fix it; you have to want to smile again. Whatever you chose, know that it will be hard and most days you will want to give up and pick up your hurt, pain, amour and hang on to them and that’s ok but remember what the smile felt like.
Until next time,
Juli
Juli's Blog 