Good News is Always a Tonic for the Soul

 

One day I thought of something funny, and I smiled.  My son Aaron wanted to know why I was smiling.  Knowing that it was probably not funny to him I said, “I had a thought of a private nature.”  That intrigued him more.

I don’t know why, but I have been questioned many times through the years as why I was smiling.  One time at one of my former pastorates, a deacon with a solemn look said he wanted to talk.  Now, after thirty-four years in the ministry I have learned that when a deacon wants to talk to the pastor, it is not good news.  It is usually after a sermon that did not sit too well with a member, or the deacon, and they want set the preacher straight.  That is why I have always tried to study and preach sound Biblical principles and not preach personal soapbox sermons or be a bully in the pulpit.

The deacon that wanted to talk was also a member of the pulpit committee that recommended me to the church.  I had been what we call “around the block a few times with people wanting to speak with me so I said, “Sure.”  He came to the house for the “talk,” and we spoke outside to make it of a private nature.

One of the church members had a mother that was very sick.  Her mother would die with a few weeks.  The person complained to the deacon that I was insensitive.  She told the minister of discipline, that is the deacon, that I smiled the whole time she was pouring out her heart to me.  Those that know me know I grin, or have a crooked smile, a lot.  People do, as did Aaron, want to know why I am grinning.  There is no reason other than it takes less muscles to grin than frown.  Most people in my lifetime use a very crude adjective to go along with grin.  It is also amazing how many people, including coaches, supervisors, upset friends, and yes, even relatives become very angry when you grin as they are chew you up or tearing you down.  It really upsets folks and they have told me in no uncertain that were going to wipe that “grin” off my face.  I just keep on grinning, which upsets them more.  Even when I try not smiling, my eyes smile.

I inherited my grin, crooked smile, from my mom.  Since I “chased that rabbit,” let me catch it and get back to the minister of discipline.  The deacon said the woman assumed that I did not take her serious.  I said, “WHAT!”  She said I was never serious, to which the deacon asked, “Are you ever serious?”  I said serious as a heart attack.

I told him that I lost my mom after a prolonged bout with stage four, melanoma cancer.  It broke my heart to hear that the woman’s mother was dying.  I told him that I had been around more death as pastor than he realized.

I took a few minutes to explain to the minister of discipline about being serious.  I told him that I had a five-year layoff from a company that had a record of accomplishment without a blemish and when I borrowed money for our house, I received a ninety percent load.  In the first year of that layoff, God called me into the ministry.  I started the University of Montevallo as a twenty-nine-year-old freshman working for minimum wage.  In the spring of my first year, I held my dad’s hand as he died from a brain tumor.  In my senior year, my wife became pregnant with Aaron, and we did not have insurance.  I paid for him out my pocket.  I told him mom died and Aaron was born before I graduated.  I took a stress evaluation while taking a Marriage and the Family course at the university.  Anything over 150 was considered a heart attack candidate.  I scored over 700.

I said, “Yes, I am serious, and you called me to this church with a history of problems and God has led me here to share the ‘Good News’.  I grin because God loves me, and it is the highest honor to serve him and His high calling.”  Then I asked, “Would rather a pastor that grins or one that looks like he has been sucking lemons or a jackass eating saw briers?”

I went to the woman who questioned my seriousness, and we are good friends.  She smiles when we are together.  People comment to me from time, “Are you a pastor?”  I grin and say, “Does it show that bad?”  They say, “You have a glow, a smile and your eyes give it away.

The writer of Proverbs 15:30 has something to say about grinning.  One commentary says, “The light of the eyes” and “good news” corresponds.  The light of the eyes is in the news bringer.  When you see his happy face, you take heart because you know he has something good to tell you.  I like the New Century Version translates it: Good news makes you feel better. Your happiness will show in your eyes.

The Message Bible translates it: A twinkle in the eye means joy in the heart, and good news makes you feel fit as a fiddle. 

The Amplified Bible translates it: The light of the eyes [of him whose heart is joyful] rejoices the heart of others, and good news nourishes the bones.

 

FYI: Members of the above church tell me that they miss my smile.