It’s 1pm on a Wednesday, the rain is falling down… Well maybe that isn’t how the song goes, but it’s my day, not that song! Oh, you don’t know which song I am referring to? Maybe this will help: “It’s nine o’clock on a Saturday The regular crowd shuffles in”

Ready for a “loaded question?”

How are you today? No, seriously, how are YOU today? It’s a tough question when answered honestly. Many of us are asked this question quite a bit and usually the answer is something along the lines of “okay or alright.” But are we really okay? I mean let’s talk life for a bit.

Our world is a bit chaotic; our lives are somewhat face paced, we live in a world of you want it now and you can almost have it. Well, I guess if you have enough money, you get anything quick, right? Don’t believe me? I just did a random check on the “almighty” Amazon – I searched jewelry and starting price over $75,000. Oh, my goodness! You can spend $76,000 right now for 3 carat diamond earrings and have them tomorrow! (Sorry wifey, we don’t even have a high enough credit card limit) Or you can buy a State Mint Morgan Dollar for $990,000 and have it in 2 days!

We have so many “conveniences” and so much stuff that you would think our lives would great. Yet, depression is very common throughout the world, in fact approximately 280 million (WHO stat) people are affected by it. Are you one of them? Along with depression, suicide is increasing in number as well, with over 700,000 people (WHO stat) taking their lives every year. Have you ever thought about taking your own life? How about one more “personal” stat – obesity. You know this category; it is describing term for those with a body mass index equal to or over 30 and in 2016 1.9 Billion adults (WHO stat) were labeled as obese. How about you, are you fit, thin, healthy weight, large or obese?

What about illnesses, disease and addictions? Well, I believe we can agree on that there is just too much of it in our world and more than likely all of us have been impacted in some form or fashion in dealing with these things.

One more “stat” before we get to “SMILE.” Have you ever noticed all of those random storage units in many towns? Maybe you even have one or a few that you rent or if you are lucky, you own these and rent them out! I found this to be mind blowing; as of January 2021 in the United States of America, there were over 49,000 units and there was 1.9 billion square feet of space to be rented to store things. Read that again and let that sink in for a moment and remember earlier my comment above ” and so much stuff.”

SMILE! Wait I am telling you to smile? I just shared some stats that could alter anyone’s smile or day. But I just touched surface level. I could have thrown out so much more, but I didn’t. We all have our moments or days where we feel miserable, nobody cares or loves us, sickness, not sleeping, etc. Sometimes some people live right there in that space of self-pity, sad, lonely and feel like, even act like there is no hope. You might even be reading this trying to figure out if you are mad at me for even writing this and we don’t even know each other!

We have at times allowed negative self-talk, negative images, negative people, negative music and more to have its “power” over you. I admit I have many times. Just ask my bride of almost 25 years, I am a zero to 100 guy at times. I can start with the small and have it all imploding in seconds. I am always working on myself and all of the things I hear, see, etc. It is not easy! But when you start seeing the changes -it is AMAZING.

SMILE! I “see you” staring at the screen reading these words and the look on your face is priceless. You look perplexed! Why in the world should you smile? Well, let’s see why:

To start with: you are breathing and reading this (you are ALIVE!) You are not sitting outside in the rain (you have a ROOF over your head) You opened your cabinets or refrigerator this morning and there was food (you are not STARVING) You are reading this with a smart phone or computer of some sort (you are not POOR) You have the choice to be around family, friends or even strangers (you are not ALONE) Most likely, taking into account of some of the above points, you can get a drink of water right where you are and its safe (you are not living in POVERTY and drinking dirty water) in fact if you have the food, a roof overhead, clothing to wear and a place to sleep – you are wealthy (you are RICHER than 75% of the world)

THOSE are just a FEW of the reasons for you to SMILE. You are not alone in this world. You are not alone in your battle to lose weight, fight addiction, overcome depression or doubt. You don’t have to live in fear, run from anyone or anything. YOU are surrounded (whether you know it or not) by people that will help, support, pray, love and so much more. YOU get to choose this though, no one will force you. Just like a SMILE, no one can force you. BUT if you do SMILE, you will make others SMILE and sometimes that one little act of kindness can change someone’s entire day or even their life. Go ahead, smile, what can it hurt?

Thanks for stopping by the fire,

Pastor Dennis