Thoughtful Thursday-My Happy Face
in Thoughtful Thursdays on March 19, 2015
I have not been in a very good mood lately. I am tired. I am stressed. I am in the final lap of my college career. The kids have been sick—like almost as sick as they were when they were babies and had NO IMMUNE system. Jeff and I are not on the same page… Nothing has been able to pull me out of my mood, so I did what any intelligent woman would do: I called a friend to vent. She listened to me rant and rave about my lot in life, then she told me, “I think it’s time for our favorite saying…” I was so caught up in my crankiness, I couldn’t remember what our saying was! She laughed and said, “This is my ha-ppy faaace.” I immediately started laughing, and instantly felt better. Background information on my ha-ppy faaace: Several years ago, a movie came out with Tommy Lee Jones, who was posing as a cheerleading coach for the Texas Longhorn cheerleaders. He was really assigned to them to keep them safe because he was an undercover police officer. Tommy Lee is somewhat gruff, and the cheerleaders told him to put on “his happy face” to which he replies (with a stone-cold stare) “this is my ha-ppy faaace.” Naturally my mind began to spin around faces, emotions, countenance…your face speaks volumes without you ever having to utter a single word.
Reminded me of someone else….
Moses. Do you remember him? Moses, the great deliverer of the Children of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians. Well after the Exodus from Egypt, Moses and all of the Children of Israel were camped out at the bottom of Mount Sinai. Moses would go to the top of the mountain to meet with God. It was there on that mountain top that God issued the Ten Commandments and all of the instructions as to how the Israelites were supposed to live. It was during one of these mountain top visits, that the glory of the LORD rested on Moses. We read in Exodus 34:29 “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD.” Moses could not hide the fact that he was changed after an encounter with God. His face said everything that he could not. The Israelites were slightly spooked about Moses’ appearance. He was different. Changed. He even had to wear a veil to cover his face just so the Israelites could look upon him. (See 34:33) Can you even imagine what that experience must have been like? God spoke to Moses like a friend, and Moses was unable to hide his joy from his face. He most definitely had on his “ha-ppy faaace“.
So what about you today? What emotion is showing on your face? Are you stressed and distressed? Are you angry? Sad? Indifferent? Or are you overflowing with joy? Peaceful? My prayer for you this day, is that you will have a “mountain top experience” so that your face shines with the radiance of the Lord Most High. Understand today that you are loved and chosen and God would love to talk with you as a friend. He loves you unconditionally. He’s waiting for you. Have a blessed day.
“You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16:11