I spent this week driving across America from Florida to Reno and back.
What I love most about traveling are the faces of those who I have encountered on the road. When I reflect on the end of a trip, I mostly remember the amazing faces: the chiseled face of a Navajo Indian selling jewelry, the priceless expression on the face of a urban professional black man trying to humor his wife by trying Mexican food for the first time, the little baby infant that smiled at me (well maybe she wasn’t smiling!).
Faces give us the first and most indelible impression of another person. They instantly make the first and sometime permanent impression.
Humans are the only creation that is interested in facial expressions. Have you ever seem a male dog just stare into the face of a female dog for hours? As a rule, animals don’t look at the faces of other animals except to see if they are baring their teeth.
The face is special and unique to human beings because, among other things, the face, especially the eyes, are windows to the soul, the core identity of another person especially someone we love. Familiar faces evoke deep emotion. I can look at the Winnie’s sleeping faces for hours. Until Winnie Sr wakes up startled yells “WHAT !?!?” or Winnie Jr wakes up, groggy and whispers “CREEPY!!!!!!!”
Faces have emotional strings to the person looking at them. Seeing others cry or laugh makes you do the same. The last look at a loved one before their demise lingers forever. There is nothing better than seeing your children’s faces light up when you give them something. I get the same kind of charge when a homeless man’s face lights up when you give them something.
Old salesmen don’t like talking on the phone because they can’t see the face of the person to whom they are pitching. They use the expressions of thecustomers face to know when to go for the close. I was different, I loved selling on the phone. I just assumed the people on the other end were smiling. Maybe that was the reason I didn’t close the sale!!
The blessing ‘may the Lord bless you, keep you, and make His face shine upon thee’ is really special to me. A wonderful lady who operated MI HOGAR II in KM 32, Carretera Quizaltenango, Guatemala said it to me after I had spent a day helping them. I was a brand new Christian, so I had to look it up. That blessing resonated way down inside of me. I hold it closely to my chest even now, 20 years later, and will always have a special place in my heart for that orphanage.
I think the Lord’s face shines on us when we do what pleases Him. He’s like a beaming earthly father whose face lights up when his children do something praiseworthy. That’s what I want. God’s presence, and knowing that He is happy with what we are doing. God has emotions. I fear disappointing Him more than anything. I crave His approval, and feeling His presence, or better put, His relationship.
Dean