Smile. People are hurting.

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I hope you don’t mind another funeral story. I like to share from my life as it happens and, sadly, my “life as it happens” this week has included now a second funeral. Mother and I said “so long” to her sister in December. Yesterday we said it again, this time to her baby brother. Mother was eleven years old when her brother Joel was born. Joel was eleven when I was born.

The minister captured my uncle’s life beautifully. Uncle Joel was the calm in the middle of any storm. And who could ever forget Joel’s smile and his laugh? Joel’s smile and his laugh defined him.

Joel could be serious. You could talk to Joel about anything and find a great listener, but you couldn’t be around him long without hearing his laugh and seeing his smile. Joel had genuine joy.

The minister talked about a great many attributes of my humble, sweet, kind, joyful uncle. I wrote about Joel last summer. I am happy that the minister saw him the same way I did.

The minister also gave us this charge:

Smile. People are hurting.

It’s true. So many, many people are hurting. Some hurts are hidden. Some hurts are hanging out all over the place. Some hurts are yours. Some hurts are mine.

I love the minister’s message. I’m going to take it to heart. What a great legacy to leave the world. What a great legacy to leave our children, our husbands, our friends.

We used to sing a song in Sunday School that relates to this discussion. It is a fun song and it has some truth in it. I think it is probably appropriate for kids in many situations. However, I don’t believe it fits in every situation. The song goes like this:

It isn’t any trouble just to S-M-I-L-E.
It isn’t any trouble just to S-M-I-L-E.
Whenever you’re in trouble,
It will vanish like a bubble,
If you’ll only take the trouble,
Just to S-M-I-L-E.

Well, actually, sometimes it is a lot of trouble just to S-M-I-L-E. Some situations are really tough. I think it is tough to smile for ourselves sometimes, but I love the idea of smiling for others. Our own trouble might not “vanish like a bubble, if we only take the trouble just to S-M-I-L-E.” However, we can certainly bless others with those smiles. In the process, I believe we can chip away at those troubles of our own when we focus on the needs of other people.

Smiling is one way my Uncle Joel let his light shine.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing;
so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent,
children of God above reproach
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you appear as lights in the world,
Philippians 2:14-15

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