Mr. Grumpy Face

Once in a while when I’m out walking with our dog, Jack, I inwardly smile as some dog owners see us coming, then quickly get to the other side of the street. I see the slight panic on their faces as they seek to protect their smaller dog from their perceived big, black, brute of a dog named Jack. I am not offended. They don’t know Jack. They don’t know that he would love to run and play with their dog in a field somewhere together. They don’t know how he melts when someone tickles him under the chin. They don’t know his kind nature to both humans and animals. They don’t know his heart, but as they have judged him on appearance, they turn away. They are taking caution to protect their own fur baby. It’s totally understandable when we judge a dog’s appearance, then take caution accordingly, but why do we do this with people?

I was once visiting a church where I was the speaker that morning. As I greeted various church members who walked over to welcome me, I heard one say to another, “There’s a visitor. Shall we go say hello?” The other woman looked and said, “Oh no, he looks grumpy.” I watched as they retreated back to their own seats.

When the service was over, I stood at the door with the pastor as people came by to shake our hands, to thank me for coming. Then “Mr. Grumpy” came. He shook my hand and then the pastor’s hand. The pastor said, “Welcome, I hope you’ll come back.” The man answered, “I will. I just moved to town and am looking for a church. Everyone here is so friendly.” I smiled and whispered a, “thank you, Lord” for the ones who dared to speak to him in spite of his non-smiling face at the time. When we were in the church hall a bit later, sharing lunch, I saw the visiting man. He was seated, engaged in animated conversation with those at his table. He certainly wasn’t a Mr. Grumpy.

We must take care with all the unsmiling faces we see in life. We can’t know the inside of a person. One may be hurting, in grief, shy to meet strangers, self-conscious at initiating conversation. Most important, suppose they are feeling like life has no real meaning. What if they are searching for the One who can give them purpose like they never knew before — Jesus. God is able to look into the heart of man. We can’t do that, but we surely can say, “welcome”, or “how are you?” May we be quick to have a smile and a kind word to everyone we meet. We never know, but our warm greeting could lead to one coming to know Jesus. Won’t that be fun when we all get to Heaven, and someone says, “I looked for Jesus just because you spoke kindly and were friendly to me.”

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another (for having grumpy faces) even as God in Christ forgave you (Ephesians 4:32 NKJV – parentheses mine).