Some people radiate the presence of God when we are with them but a few can do it, even from a picture on a newspaper page. I was struck by this when looking at photographs of the late, The Right Reverend Desmond Tutu. Although an Archbishop and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Desmond Tutu faced some great challenges in his long life; he could easily have looked tired, battle scarred and dejected but if you notice, he always seemed to be bigger than the big issues he was tackling.
I have little doubt that even a man with faith like Tutu had will sometimes have questioned the likelihood of making a difference in the face of great odds, and yet he did so. The man of God who championed tough causes made a difference to the lives of many other people who remained unnoticed. His smile affected me, via newsprint, even after he had moved on to his new place in the eternal presence of God.
This is a big point for all of us small people who believe our burdens to be significant. A smile received or a smile given is a tonic for those in low spirits, an encouragement for those ‘on the back foot’ and an energiser for those already working on full power. Smiles cost nothing but they cannot be spirited up out of nowhere; smiles tell of what is going on within us.
Some people are inspirational in many ways. We may bump into them without knowing who they are or anything about them but still we sense grace and peace. If you wonder whether you are making a difference, reflect on when you think you last smiled to a stranger or noticed the smile another person gave you, whoever they were. Part of receiving smiles and their attendant messages is looking up to see them. That may be difficult when the day is not good for us.
A prayer
Lord God, I pray that you will smile though me to people around me, and help me see the smiles of those who look my way. When I find it hard to be gracious, soften my sharp edges. When I am tempted to look down, help me look up for the sake of the kindness of strangers and of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Amen.