Catching Idle Butterflies

Segue

There appears to me a virus running around Blogville of late that makes people avoid this place or succumb to a case of the blahs. Count me among one of the blahed.

I don't continue the picture war in this entry, because letgocling hasn't posted hers yet. I like to get the last word on things *snicker*.

Instead, I'd like your thoughts on these two items I created last night ("Beauty in a Smile"  and "My Way or No Way" ). I won't make you click on them, so here they are in entirety:

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Why God Created The Smile
It's more than a simple expression of feeling

About 15 years ago, and living in a small town, I used to see a young lady in her early twenties walking to and from Walmart. The reason I remember her is because she had a ½" wide and deep purple scar or birth mark running from below her left eye down to her chin.

I always wondered about that as I passed her by in my car. I even felt sorry for her some, having to spend all her life carrying on her face such a huge blemish, and with no way short of plastic surgery to hide it.

One day I returned to my car after shopping at Walmart and saw the same woman walking toward me. I decided to give her a small smile in greeting.

What I saw stopped me. Not that she smiled back, but how her smile transformed her. The scar disappeared, not literally, but because her smile was so genuine and expressed the depth of her inner joy, I could see only the astonishing beauty she possessed inside. My own smile increased in return, and didn’t waver for the rest of the day.

Scientists have also discovered that even if we smile when we don’t necessarily feel happy, the brain releases endorphins. They in turn increase our happy mood.

That’s no accident.

The smile is universal. It requires no translation no matter what our language, culture, or past experience. Children smile in the womb, and the oldest person on earth has the capability until their last breath. I’d wager those who live the longest also smile a lot.

A smile can diffuse a tense situation between friends, strangers, sometimes even enemies. It is contagious. Whenever I pass someone by, I remember the woman and think, "I may not have the beautiful smile she did, but perhaps I can spread some of her joy."

With much of our communication these days done with email and text messaging, and no way to see the expression of the sender or recipient, is it any wonder the most used emoticon is the smile?

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My Way or No Way
The so-called exclusivity of Christianity

Many people scoff at the Christian belief that only through Jesus will any person will make it to heaven. It is seen as exclusive, because anyone who doesn’t believe, no matter how good or kind, will be doomed to hell for all eternity. It’s a club they can never get into, as though God will take only a certain kind of people, the rest be damned. That's a petty, bigoted God no thoughtful person should worship.

Let’s look at this another way.

I receive an invitation to a party from a friend. I show up at his home at the appointed time. It could either be a fancy mansion with many wings and rooms and surrounded by a massive granite wall no one could scale without a ladder. It could also be a small one-room house with a short wooden fence even a small child could step over without trouble. It doesn’t matter; I announce myself but one way. Do I run through the darkened back yard, climb the side fence, or sneak through a window? Or do I walk to the front, open the gate, and knock on the door?

Jesus is the gate to heaven. It's never locked and swings both ways. Every human has been sent an invitation to his house. It’s up to us whether or not to accept it, and arrive as any considerate person would.

Through the front door.

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Enjoy the rest of your day, and if you're suffering from the Blogville Blahs, I hope you feel better soon.