Jitterbugging for Jesus

When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.”

— From the old song; scroll down to hear Satchmo sing it

Think about that person you know who is a devout person of faith whose face seems to almost always shine with grace and lovingkindness, as if, like Moses, he or she has just beheld the presence of God Himself/Herself.

In Exodus 33:18, we see that Moses had the chutzpah* to ask God, “Oh, let me behold your presence!”

God said, “Look, buddy, I’ll make all my goodness pass before you, and but you ain’t seeing my face because you know good and well nobody sees my face and lives.”

So Moses had this up-close and personal encounter with God that was so powerful that when he went back down Mount Sinai, the people were afraid to go near him.

Why?

Because of the Holy Shine on his face, so radiant that Moses kept his face veiled except when he spoke to God. (See Exodus 34:29-35.)

I’ve come to have this spiritual discipline in which I monitor my face and what it says to people I meet or greet in public.

When they look at my face, I want them to see me smiling, or hear me acknowledging their existence with a disarming “Hello.”

As strange as it may sound, I monitor my own face, trying to keep it open and friendly to everyone who sees it. This isn’t really hard for me as smiling at people has always come pretty naturally to me.

Still, we now know that smiling (and laughing, of course) pays high dividends in terms of holistic healthy and well being.

Smiling is spiritual green tea.

Smiling relaxes the face muscles in such a way that it it, like the sound of music, can cause physiological changes within us, for the better, in an instant.

But smiling comes far easier and more naturally to us if we’re living in the presence of the Lord.
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*Chutzpah (from the Hebrew חֻצְפָּה, pronounced hoots-puh) is a Yiddish word that is used by Jews and non-Jews alike to describe someone who is particularly audacious or has a lot of “guts.” Chutzpah can be used in a variety of ways. You can say someone “had chutzpah” to do something, or you could describe them as a “chutzpanik” and achieve the same meaning.

It’s pronounced hoots-puh.