Too Blessed to Be StressedSample

"Stinky Face"

Read 1 Thessalonians 5:11

This was my recent conversation with my three-year-old grand-buddy, Blaine, who was watching me apply make-up:

“What's that stuff do, Mimi?”

“Blush makes me look less dead, er, I mean it gives me more color.”

“Oh. Why do ya wanna be pink?”

“I don't want to be pink. I just don't want to look like a walking marshmallow.”
[He contemplates this deep concept.]

“What‘cha doing now, Mimi?”

“Spraying perfume to make me smell pretty. See - [holding out wrist for olfactory inspection] - what do you think?”

[Making stinky face] “Ugghh. You smell like my Pull-Ups.”

Swell. Not exactly the scent I was going for.

I, too, have been practicing my stinky face. Not intentionally. But sometimes when I pass a mirror, I'm floored at my gnarly expression. The thing is, I'm not angry ... or sad ... or even displeased. I'm just preoccupied. So preoccupied that I'm not aware of what my face is doing, and apparently when ignored, my facial muscles default to my mother’s scowl.

I thought Mama was always mad at me. Once I asked what I'd done; she seemed surprised. "Why, nothing. I'm not upset. I'm focused on what I'm doing. Just ignore my face."

Well, of course, that's impossible. The face is the window into the mind. Reading expressions is our feedback mechanism to know what’s going on inside others. “A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but when the heart is sad, the spirit is broken” (Proverbs 15:13).

So does my countenance bless or intimidate people? Does Jesus-joy shine through my eyes and encourage through my smile? “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord” (Colossians 3:17).

Hmm. Maybe I should tell my stinky face the good news that’s in my heart more often. And ditch the Eau de Pull-Ups.

Additional Elements:
BFF (Blessed Friends Forever) prayer: Sweet Lord, make me more aware of the You I portray to others. I offer my countenance to You today as an instrument of praise. Amen.

Digging Deeper: Read Philippians 2:3