The Power of a Smile

In 2011 when I started working at the Women’s Health Boutique, a provider of post-mastectomy products and wigs for women going through cancer treatment, I quickly learned that, although a person may look like nothing is going on in their life, you never know.  I met ladies that were enduring their 2^nd or 3^rd time battling cancer, met family members that had lost numerous family members in a short amount of time, and fit ladies with wigs which looked so closely like their hair that you would never know they were in the middle of enduring chemotherapy. 

Because of this revelation, I made a conscience decision.  If I passed someone, anywhere, and made eye contact with them, I would smile at them at a minimum, if not also say “hi”.  I also made a decision to keep my face up to intentionally make eye contact with others.  You see, before, I was a keep-your-head-down-and-plow-along kind of person.  No more!  If my countenance is going to reflect Christ’s love to others, how can I do that by keeping my nose to the grindstone all the time?  I couldn’t, so I don’t any longer.

What happens when you do this?  It opens up the opportunity to meet and even pray with amazing people.  People start talking to you.  They share their stories.  They will ask you to pray for them.  They will grant you the privilege to pray with them.  You see, a smile is an amazingly powerful, yet simple tool we possess.  It shows a person that we acknowledge them as a fellow human…they are not alone in this world.  Also, I believe, that lifting our face to smile must also somehow reveal something deeper than only our smile to them.  If not, then how do they “just know” to ask for prayer?

So as you go along with your day today, smile!  You never know whose day you will bless!