REFLECTIONS

Universal Love Language

In the aisles of the store a stranger passed by. His hair was dark and oily, and his skin looked tough and leathery from too many hours in the sun. His hands were sinewy and rough from hard labor, and his clothes revealed his struggles to earn a living. Everything about him signaled a hard life with little to suggest a warm heart or a sensitive nature. Little, that is, except a smile on his face about as big as anyone could muster.

It was simple to discover the reason behind the smile. An infant seat braced on his belt buckle was secured by the strap that wrapped behind his neck. And in the infant seat tucked within a nest of fluffy blankets was a baby boy sending a simple message of love to his dad through the warmness of a smile.

The man was fully engaged with the babe each seemingly out doing the other with the smile factor; and who knows which one started it. But the way it all began didn’t matter. The father/son thing was in full bloom. Each one signaling the other with the most powerful message in this world, “I love you.”

One can only wonder what the remainder of the day brought for this newly formed father/son team. Dad likely enjoyed the remainder of his day away from the physical rigors of his job, and the little guy’s smile would at some point be replaced by hunger pains or soiled diapers. But the changes of the day would never overshadow the moments when smiles bonded a father with his son through the universal love language.

That’s the way our Father looks at us. If we pay attention, we can feel his smile on us each and every day of our lives. And He cherishes nothing more than a smile from us in return. That’s what Jesus did. Lest we get confused, it wasn’t the miracles Jesus did while on this earth that made God smile. The miracles of healing, feeding the thousands from food morsels, walking on water, or restoring life to a loved one had little to do with God’s pleasure with his Son. God loved his Son, and his joy came from his son’s love for him in return.

That moment in the aisles of a store offered only a brief glimpse at true joy. A father and son exchanged “I love you” through the universal love language of a smile. It lifted them both. And it probably lifted God too. For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son.

And God will welcome a loving smile from us in return.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org.

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