“Write the post for tonight, smiling while I do.”

That’s the instruction I wrote to myself while writing my project list one day last week. I realized that I needed to remind myself to smile.

I’m not sure whether it worked. I’m not sure I wrote any smiley posts last week. The reminder, however, was valid.

I often forget to smile.

As I worry about lists, as I fret about keeping up, about doing enough, about getting things right, I forget to smile. As I sit with people preparing for the worst, I forget to smile.

Except when I think about Ben, our grandson, who turned two last week. When I think about Ben, I smile. When he shows up, I smile.

This is not a “yep, that’s what being a grandpa does” post, however. There’s no record of Paul being a grandpa, at least biologically.

And yet, when he’s wrapping up one of his letters, he says, “encourage one another, and build each other up.”

It’s not just a happy platitude. He reminds them that there are difficulties. He asks them to pray for him.  

But as he unpacks encouraging and building up he says, “Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.”

And much of this can involve smiling. When we are living in peace with each other, the image is less of a truce or a cease-fire, it’s more of a being relaxed and finding ways to enjoy the presence of the other person. Like being with Ben. Helping the weak looks like helping Ben safely climb on the stool to wash his hands. Figuring out how to do what’s good for each other looks like helping Ben learn.

And now I am smiling.