Peace From Within

I was born with a crooked nose. Like most kids with something different about them, I was picked on. Every day I came home crying, cursing the face that God had given me and wishing just for once that I could be beautiful. I hated my nose. Then I became a teenager.

When I was around 12 or 13, something strange happened. Suddenly my nose was not the hideous defect I’d always thought it was. It was unique. I was different than everyone else in my school and this made me happy. When people called me “bent nose” I just smiled and said thank you. I had come to the place in my life where it did not matter what they said. I was finally at peace with who I was and what I had been given. Ironically, it was about this time when my face was going to be altered whether I liked it or not.

The doctor said that if I didn’t have the surgery I would have breathing problems for the rest of my life. Funny thing, his “corrective” surgery did the opposite. Not only did the crook not get fixed, I got an added bump and I’ve had breathing issues ever since he sliced me open. I have learned to be ok with this too. Although this is not the nose I was born with, it still makes me unique and I have a story to tell any time someone gathers enough courage to ask.

With the nose issue finally laid to rest I realized I had another score to settle with myself. Because the shape of my mouth naturally turns downward, it occurred to me that unless I’m in a fully fledged grin, it would appear to everyone that I’m constantly frowning. I can’t count the number of times I’ve had to answer the question, “Are you ok? You look angry.” “Is everything alright? You look sort of sad.” While it is slightly annoying that I just naturally appear perturbed or sad or uncomfortable, I have finally found a solution that is fool-proof and absolutely free. I’m going to smile everywhere I go.

Smiling not only provides the assurance to everyone around me that I am in fact ok, it also boosts my spirits when I’m not. I am carrying a message to the world. I am in love with life, my God, and I actually kind of like myself. Even when things are not ok the act of showing my happy face reminds me of a greater meaning. Things are never as bad as you think they are when you turn your frown upside down.

 

"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls- yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation".—Habakkuk 3:17-18