Why You Should Frown Sometimes...

 I cried with my friend today.  And I cried to a friend today. 

Both cries were needed...and felt deep in the places that you do not often want to go. 

The one I cried with shared about a hardship that her son was going through, but that he was becoming stronger because of it and that through it all, God was becoming more real to him. But the heartache and pain is something that a parent never wants their child to have to go through, but it is inevitable in this fallen world.

The one I cried to was from a simple phone call that said she was gong to bring me dinner.  She noticed my tired eyes the day before and my lack of a true smile.  She said the Lord just impressed upon her that I might need a little encouraging.  I lost it...not because I couldn't make my own dinner, but because she heard the whisper of Jesus, telling her to go.

There is a book I own, read, reread, highlighted, bent pages, broken spine...and I absolutely love the author, Karol Ladd.  The book is called The Power of a Positive Mom.  It has many amazing quotes to truly live by.  

But there is one that I absolutely do not agree with:

Learn to greet your friends with a smile; they carry too many frowns in their own hearts to be bothered with yours. - Mary Allete Ayer

I found out today how sometimes your friends need to see you cry or they need to hear the quiver in your voice because that shows them that you are real.  That you feel deep in your heart for your children, for your marriage, for a parent in need.  And it shows that you feel deep for them.

And our children need to see the deep parts of our sorrow, for then they can appreciate the great joys of complete trust and joy in God.  They need to see us struggle so they know it is okay for them to struggle.

Our kids need to see us frown.  And to cry.  Because then they see that we need God.  And they can see that in His love, we can find our love, our smile, our hope found in him.

And yet, our children need to see us smile...for we have that hope.  

The earlier they embrace that hope, that knowledge of God's unfailing love, the greater the capacity for trust will be: 

  For you, O Lord, are my hope, 

my trust, O LORD, from my youth  

Psalm 71:5

photo credit: apysworld.blogspot.com