Still a Work in Progress

At a recent fourth of July celebration, a friend of mine told my oldest granddarling Brooklyn that she looked like her mother. Brooklyn, who was choosing her dessert, glanced up and said thank you but her expression told the story. My friend laughed and asked, “You hear that all the time?” Brooklyn nodded. When we returned to our table to eat our dessert, Brooklyn said to me, “When I look in the mirror, I just see me.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle. Then I said, “I wrote a devotion about this! You’ll be told your entire life that you look like one of your parents. But the important thing to remember is to reflect our heavenly Father in our expressions and actions.”

I’d like to say that I’ve mastered not letting my negative emotions show on my face, especially my impatience, since writing this devotion. I have not. I’d hoped that my practice of smiling through my impatience and annoyances would become second nature. Yet, I know my feelings mask my features for a few split seconds before I can remind myself to smile or react in another compassionate way—whether it was the cashier who told me about her bad day before processing my transaction but then smiled when I told her I hoped her shift got better, or the restaurant hostess who joined in my family’s conversation and ended up needing, and asking for, a hug.

The good news is God gives me many opportunities, large and small, to master being patient and loving to everyone just like he would be. And for that I’m grateful.