Our Stories
Smiling
By Stew | posted 04/15/2010
"When I smiled at them, they scarcely believed it; the light of my face was precious to them." (Job 29:23-25)
Recently, I watched a short video about how people learn to see. Interestingly, people learn not so much from seeing things, but from seeing motion. In fact, the way I learned this was by watching a video of a formerly blind child learning to see. In the video, on a computer screen the child is unable to distinguish a square from a triangle. Only when the triangle is put in motion on the screen can the child identify it.
The video then related visual learning of an infant to this same dynamic of moving shapes. In the video a cooing, smiling parent is shown from the point of view of the infant, who learns by associating the moving shapes on a parent’s face to meanings in the world.
So smiling is more important than the smile itself. It’s the transformation of the mouth into a smile that counts and not the final outcome. So pasting a perpetual smile on one’s face is not as important as genuinely moving from an expression-less face to a smile.
A similar situation occurs, I think, when trying to do good. It’s certainly good to want to do good, to know what good is, and to have done good things. But the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Often we don’t walk our talk, and by the way, what have you done for me lately?
Good deeds are different from grace and faith. But God’s grace is perpetually active. And an active, dynamic faith that is continually being tested and proven is more real than an abstract faith that is not put into motion in real life. Being an example to others, for example, teaches people more than providing them with advice, because one is active and dynamic, while the other is motionless and static. Stories in the Bible teach lessons better than proverbs. The story and living example of Christ – the Gospel story - is more important than the symbol of the cross, and gives the cross itself meaning.
As Christians, we learn by associating Christ’s life to meanings in the world. When Christ shines on us, we can scarcely believe it. When you smile on others, the lighting up of your face can be precious to them. Try it. Actively. If they see your face in motion, they’ll learn.
- Stew (a recent convert from poker-facedness)
Stew can be reached via email here.
