Winter celebrated itself with an ocean blue sky and a cold wind today, the day’s beauty so pretty in its cloudless sky. I walked Penelope this morning wearing her little blue jeweled sweater. She loves cold morning and runs around friskily dragging me down the broken sidewalk. I believe she has the strength to drag a pack mule up Mount Everest. Oldest brother blew the leaves from under my old oak to the street’s curb and the wind’s whirlwind’s made them dance like flocks of tiny brown birds.

This afternoon I went to get the mail from the mailbox. Guess I didn’t shut the front door all the way. When I turned around to step up the curb Penelope was standing there wagging her little tail. The wind had blown the door open and she ran out. I yelled for her to get her little doggie butt back in the house and she kicked up a dust trail high tailing it back to the house. She knew she was in trouble!

Read this quote on a friend’s Facebook page this afternoon. “Ah, the dawn of a new year! May we find inner peace, gentle spirit, God‘s grace, forgiveness, dreams and prayers.” I look at that quote as a prayer, an inspirational message as we look forward to a new year and all the blessings it brings. The new year brings new beginnings giving us hope for a fresh start as the sun rises. Scripture tells us that with God’s blessing and guidance we can find a gentle spirit and an inner peace. Isaiah 48:17 reads, “This is what the Lord says — your Redeemer, the Holy One…: ‘I am the Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go.’”

Today’s quote in my daily quote book is “Let us always meet each other with a smile,” Mother Teresa. Wouldn’t that be great if the world tried to follow that advice. I’m thinking of the random smiles I shared with folks today. I picked up my groceries at Wally World and the grocery attendant had a happy smile as he checked my name at the car window. I talked to oldest sister-in-law, to my Florida cousin, and to my dearest friend on the phone today and I could feel the warmth of their smiles through our conversations. Remember how exciting it was when our babies started smiling, so sweet to watch those first innocent smiles light up their precious faces.

I bet God has a beautiful warm smile that crinkles his worn face and makes his blue eyes twinkle. God’s smile is represented through his love for us, in his joy of our creation. Proverbs 15:13 reads, “A glad heart makes a cheerful face.” A smile is full of hopeful optimism that gives the recipient a small peek at our soul. Paramahansa Yogananda writes, “Let my soul smile through my heart and my heart smile through my eyes, that I may scatter rich smiles in sad hearts.”

When God is pleased with us we feel the warmth of his smiles as blessings, an inner peace of contentment and unconditional love. Numbers 6:25-26 states, “The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Leigh Hunt writes, “Colors are the smiles of nature.” I think the earth blesses us with her smiles — from magnificently colored sunrises and sunsets, from wondrous music of the songbirds, from the warmth of her sun’s rays on our face, from the vivid colors of the velvet pansy blooms — all her smiles compliments from God.

A smile is the most important thing we wear. A genuine smile conveys warmth and friendliness and has the power to bring God’s light into someone’s darkness.

“If you have only one smile in you give it to the people you love.” — Maya Angelou