06/13/05
TwinkleGram from Charlene - Getting REAL
Dear TwinkleGrammers,
I'm looking over the top of my computer monitor at what is shaping up to be a fabulous sunset. I have to peek every few words lest I miss it. (Now you see it--almost; now you'll have missed it. BLAMMO!) As I cast my eyes to the right, I see the astounding, mysterious, awesome full-color birth of a star. It's visible to me via the old newspaper clipping long ago tacked to my office wall. Both views (ahead and to the right) amaze me, even though one is real (in Real Time) and the other is a newspaper clipping from 1996--although "the birth" was certainly Real when Hubble captured the image. (In case you're wondering what's to my left, it's a plaque I bought myself that says, "I live in my own little world, but it's okay, they know me there.")
A couple weeks ago I was chatting on the phone with a friend, telling her about the glorious beauty in the smile of my new granddaughter (any baby, really). "How old is she?" my friend asked. "Around four weeks." "Oh, one of *those* smiles, not a real one."
But her eyes crinkled, her face brightened, her dimples flashes. And I smiled back, tears threatening to spill at the utter beauty of those precious upturned lips, the piercing gratefulness for her appearance on this earth. The kind of stirring that warms, invites, causes our breath to catch. Draws us closer to God. Momentarily erases all the darkness in the world. Incites us to long to see, feel, experience it again. Defies us to look away for a moment lest BLAMMO! we've missed its next appearance.
All day I felt niggled about my friend's comment regarding the "not real" smile. And I wondered: even if it was gas or a twitch, if it looked like a smile and it made me smile back, then certainly it was as Real a smile as I will ever see. As real as the birth of a specific star, whether I see it in a photograph, Real Time or Einstein's time. Real Things move us. Capture us. Stop us in our tracks. We remember them and are, in some small way, transformed.
If I walk to the bathroom, flip on the light (by the way, sunset--BLAMMO!--is over) and give myself a "fake" smile, I notice barely anything changes on my face when the inside of me catches up with the outside since, well, I've caused Smile Number One to ... what? Come alive? Surely, The Smile--any smile--delivers a gift.
Have you given any smiles away today? (Even to yourself? I double-dog dare you to get yourself to a mirror right this instant and SEE how inviting your own smile can be!) How many smiles have you captured? If you haven't captured any, perhaps it's time to throw out the bait (feel your lips beginning to move?) so you can snag a few.
2 Corinthains 4:6 - For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Until we chat again,
Peace and grins, Charlene PS My September book tour for Dearest Dorothy, Who Would Have Ever Thought?!, is shaping up! A few of the stops: Tempe AZ, Albuquerque NM, Jacksonville FL, Omaha NE, Milwaukee WI, Richmond VA ... STAY TUNED!
PSS If you know any one who could use a Good Dose of this, please forward it along. If you have received this as a forward, you can also pass it along. And you can also get your own TwinkleGram subscription by visiting www.dontmissyourlife.com/words.html . AND (but wait, there's more!) you can read a few back issues too!
Remember, that was a double-dog dare!
Charlene Ann Baumbich
A Grinning Goofball Smile on, TwinkleGrammers! Why NOT?!
