Masked Smiles

She was disheveled and unkempt but her half smile changed me!

Over fifteen years ago, when Jesus really got a hold of my heart, He put a smile on my face that stuck. I smile while on the street, in the grocery store, in the post office. Frankly everywhere I go I love to smile. So when our state passed down a rule that everyone, including me, must wear a mask I felt robbed! For several weeks I went around peering above my mask at sad lonely eyes. I felt invisible as if no one could see me. Our sad dark world instantly was thrown into a whole new level of loneliness.

Then one day I saw her. I had just entered the grocery store and was in the process of getting a cart. My mind was in another place and I forgot that I was wearing a mask. My automatic reaction was to smile at the lady ahead of me as I stepped out of her way. It wasn’t until then that I noticed her mask was shifted sideways so half of her face from top to bottom was uncovered. A huge beautiful half of a smile flashed back at me and etched deeply in my memory. It was as if someone had turned on the lights in a dark room. As I proceeded to get my own cart my heart was lifted. The realization of what had just happened made my heart sing. Even though I was wearing a mask she “saw” my smile and returned it. As I was shopping I recognized a friend from church. We greeted each other and commented on face masks and lack of smiles. She looked at me and said “but Shawna, your eyes are smiling.” That was it, it was revolutionary to me although my mouth was covered my eyes could still smile!

As I left the grocery store I smiled at everyone entering. I smiled in the parking lot at those who were leaving their cars and those that were parking them. I could feel the sparkle return, my heart was light and lifted. Yes my heart was smiling along with my mouth, and yes my eyes.

“A glad heart makes a happy face;
a broken heart crushes the spirit.”
Proverbs 15:13 NLT