Seeing God Smiles

Recently, I was reading a text message from a friend and noticed a symbol at the end of her text message. I had seen the symbol many times before on facebook, twitter and on text messages, but had just guessed at what it meant. Sometimes I interpreted it as something Forest Gump would say, such as, "that's all I have to say about that." Other times, I simply didn’t know. I continued to interpret facebook, twitter and text messaging symbols and abbreviations the way I wanted to. There are several reasons why I had continued to interpret them my way. 1) It wasn’t that important to me to know what they meant. 2) I didn’t want to take the time to research what they meant. I was a little lazy in regards to this issue. 3) I had been a little embarrassed about asking someone what they meant. There was one more reason I had continued to interpret the symbols the way I wanted, and this is the one that really exposed my heart, I liked interpreting the symbols in a way that was comfortable to me. I didn’t want to know if someone was giving me a symbol or abbreviation I didn’t like.

This time was different. I couldn’t risk not knowing what the symbol meant. My friend and I had been texting about important issues and I needed to know what she meant by the symbol. I knew she would most likely think I was a bit incompetent in the social media world for not knowing such well-used symbols, but I had to humble myself and ask her what that meant.

I was happily astonished when she replied, “that’s a side-ways smiley face!”  : )



Really…a smiley face. I turned my phone and saw the sweet little smiley face, smiling directly at me. It warmed my heart!

Then I realized…I had missed all the smiley faces!

There was immediate spiritual application for me in this new found smiley face. How often do I miss God smiling at me in His word? Sometimes, I fail to read and study His word because it’s really not that important to me. Other things seem to win my time and take priority over the study of God’s word. At other times, I’m just too lazy to study God’s word. I believe lies, such as, “I’m too tired or can’t think well enough right now to study God’s word.” Instead I watch television or spend time studying other people’s lives through social media. And there are times when I simply don’t want to humble myself and acknowledge that I need to know God and His word in order to respond to the messages I daily receive in the world. As a result, I find myself responding to the world’s messages, my way, and not God’s. And the worst reason, I would rather interpret God in a way that is comfortable to me and not in a way that exalts Him.

The biggest disappointment I recognized through the smiley face was that when I don’t spend time rightly interpreting and responding to God’s word…I miss Him smiling at me. I miss Him speaking His love, grace and hope into my life. I miss the smiles that come when I respond to Him and not to myself, my circumstances and the world.

I also realized that without knowing what a smiley face was I was unable to share smiley faces with others. Can I just tell you how much the smiley faces have revolutionized my social media life! I absolutely love giving a smiley face! How many people need to see God smiles in their lives? Sharing God smiles will completely revolutionize your life!

It’s His smiles that bring immense satisfaction and delight to my life. And, He, God, takes great pleasure in me, seeing Him smile, and in me sharing His smiles with others!

"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards : ) those who seek him." Hebrews 11:6 (ESV) 

Would you like to see God smile? Would you like for God to receive great pleasure from you seeing Him smile into your life? Would you like to share God smiles with others who need a smile? What are a few ways that you will commit to seeing and sharing God smiles in your life? I would love to hear from you.

Sweet Smiles : )
Tammy