Letting the Face Talk
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Dear friend,
You have had a busy year, I am sure. But as you come toward the end of it, I think you can look back upon it with a large measure of gratitude in your heart. Indeed, you speak of this in your letter in connection with the Thanksgiving season. Gratitude is not only a duty — but it gives great pleasure to the heart that cherishes it. All that the year has brought you, is good. That is to say, we can put into the hands of God, all the experiences of our year, even the things which have seemed hard and hurtful — knowing that there is a Hand which will so shape results as to bring out of all the tangles of the year, a beautiful web.
Even our faults, our follies and our sins — we may put into the same Hand if we are truly penitent, and leave them there, knowing that from these, too, some blessing will come to us. It is wonderful how good God is to us and how he takes whatever we give him, even the poorest fragments of our obediences, even our mistakes and our sins — and out of them brings something helpful and full of good for us. "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose!" Romans 8:28
With regard to what you say about the article by Dr. Banks — that we should let our hearts out to people — no doubt his advice is good. There is a great lack of expression of love, especially in homes. I have not seen the article to which you refer — but I suppose that Dr. Banks has reference to this particular phase of the subject — the necessity not only for love, but for the utterance of love, for the words which tell of that love. There certainly is a great need in many homes and in many friendships, of such expressions.
Only last evening in my sermon, I spoke of it. I was preaching about Mary and Martha and Jesus. It is said that Mary anointed Jesus a forehand for his burial. I spoke of the "a forehand" kindness — not waiting until he was dead. A great many people, you know, show very little love along the way, even to their best friends; then when the friends are dead, they send immense bouquets and flowers of extravagant dimensions and cost. I have always said that I would prefer a few flowers now and then along the dusty way, when my heart was weary and I needed renewal of strength, rather than the repression of love all the years, and then an outburst, when it will amount to nothing for me.
I appreciate what you say, however, about the particular phase of the subject which concerns yourself. You can let your love out, however intense it may be, when you are sure of your friends.
You ask, "Why do people, even strangers, always happen on one's sore point?" I cannot answer this question. The other evening a young girl asked me, "Do you believe in luck?" She went on to tell me how for her sister everything went right and happily, while for her everything went wrong, that she had only disappointment after disappointment. I tried to show the girl that it was not luck, that there must be some reason for what seemed to her partiality, even if she cannot find it. I tried to explain to her how different people need differentdiscipline. This may be one reason. Sometimes the reason lies in oneself. We find in the world — what we are prepared to find. A person with a happy heart — always finds happiness. One with a sad, gloomy heart — always finds sadness and gloom.
By the way, have you ever thought of our responsibility for the looks on our faces — whether they are happy or the reverse? Margaret Fuller tells of her own experiences as a child, when she used to sit in church and watch the faces of the worshippers, trying to find in those faces some interpretation or expression of the things which these people were saying in their hymns and prayers and professed to believe. She said that she could not find these ideals there. She speaks then of the hurt to her own life from people's faces, their severe looks, their lack of gladness and joy.
Some people seem altogether to forget that they are responsible for being glad-hearted and joyous, even if they have trouble. The other day a mother who had passed through a very great sorrow said to me that she tried always to keep her face happy and bright at home, that she might not cast upon her children's lives, any shadow of the grief which had so emptied her own life. She was right — but the same rule applies to other people besides one's children.
The other day a gentleman, when introduced to a lady, said, "I owe you a great debt, a debt far larger than ever I can pay." The lady could not understand his meaning, and he explained to her that one day he was going down town in a trolley car when he was greatly depressed. Everything had seemed to go wrong, and he was in a very black mood.
Opposite him on the car, this lady sat, and as he looked at her face he saw there something which told of courage, peace, serenity and quiet confidence, and that face drove away his gloom and all the shadows and changed his black mood into one of trust and peace. He took the earliest opportunity to thank his benefactor for what she had done for him that day.
This lady was entirely unconscious of the kindness she was doing. It was no part of her plan to make the stranger opposite to her happier that day. But she had a face which told of victory, the peace of God, the joy of Christ, of a sweet, self-controlled life. So wherever she went, her influence was for good and blessing.
All of us should cultivate the same sort of face. At least, we should think of our responsibility for our looks and for the influence we exert upon people by the kind of face we show them.
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