SMILE

 Do you ever notice how some people smile all the time.  Makes suspicious of them.  Some have 

a glow that lights up the room.  People will ask those that smile why they smile all the time.  When I am

 asked, I tell them that if I did not smile, I would probably cry.  I feel that most people would rather see

 someone smiling than crying.

Smiles vary. Some people use only their lips, while others smile with their whole face, especially their teeth. I have seen some smiles that were better before they showed teeth (or the lack thereof). A toothless smile is cute on a child, but for an adult it can be comical or embarrassing.

My dad and mom were toothless by the time they were in their thirties. They smoked and did not practice good oral hygiene, as we do today. I was a teenager before I owned a toothbrush. That was in the late 1960s. Daddy said we could use a sweet gum twig with salt and baking soda to brush our teeth. I lost one of my permanent teeth, a molar, when I was in the seventh grade. I had a mouth full of cavities. I was married before I finally had dental insurance to pay for fillings, root canals, and crowns.

I had the opportunity once to minister to a church member who needed teeth. In Pell City, Alabama, there is a One Day Denture clinic. Another church member had volunteered to take a man to the clinic, but then he could not. I got the duty, since, as the pastor, I was “not doing anything.” It was an all-day event.

After an hour's drive, we arrived at the clinic. We were there early. Slowly the office filled with toothless people. The doctor’s aides promised that everyone would see the doctor. Each person listened for the sound of his or her name. Their worry and trepidation kept them from smiling. Having no teeth did not help, either.

I felt bad about smiling. It seemed that the doctor’s aides and I were the only ones with teeth. I was embarrassed to show my teeth. It was an odd feeling, and I kept my hand over my mouth.

True to the claim, the doctor took every one of the patients and did an impression of his or her gums. I hid my teeth for five hours. It was dinner time (lunch for city folks). No one went to eat. I was hungry, but there was no way that I was going to eat in front of the toothless patients.

About one in the afternoon, the doctor’s aides gathered the patients. Once again, each person listened in anticipation for his or her name. Four people at a time, with anxiety covering their faces, entered the back of the clinic when the aides called their names.

What happened next is unforgettable. When the first person returned through the door, the waiting patients said, almost in unison, “Show us your teeth.” This person had undergone a transformation! Uncertainty and timidity had been traded for a beautiful smile. One by one, each person would stop, smile, and leave to a round of applause.

On the way back home, a police officer pulled me over for speeding. I was in a hurry to get home and get something to eat. He wanted to know why I was going fifteen miles over the speed limit, where was I going, and why I was in a hurry.

I told him that I was trying to get the man and his mother back home, because we had spent the whole day at the One Day Denture clinic. He looked puzzled. I could tell he was not buying my story. I said, “You know, the place where they do the one-day dentures.”

I turned to the man who had a new set of pearly whites and said, “Smile Jim, and show him your teeth.” Jim had the biggest grin of pearly whites.

The officer frowned and said, “Slow it down and go home.” We all said thanks—and smiled.

            “Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof everyone beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them.” (Song of Solomon 6:6, KJV)

I bet you smiled, didn’t you?

What makes you smile?

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Do you have perfect teeth, or do you have many fillings and missing teeth? Did you lose your teeth because of poor oral hygiene and bad eating habits?

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What do you think, and how do you feel, when someone greets you with a smile?

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Prayer: Father, thank You for simple things, such as a smile, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. Thank You for calling people as dentists, oral surgeons, and orthodontists. Forgive me for not taking care of my teeth as a child. Thank You for all those who share a smile and who are with those whose hearts are heavy and who cannot smile. Help me to keep an infectious smile.

* One of the stories out of my Thirty-one Day Devotional: I Will Speak Using Stories.