Smile

It is as true honor to be called upon to offer a Children's Sermon during the church service. This tradition of providing a segue from the formal church service to the less formal and more entertaining Children's Church has come into prominence in many churches. The subject matter must be sufficient to hold the interest of children of all ages as well as the congregation. It can be tied to the sermon or lectionary or it can simply be inspired by God. One of the sermons was based loosely on a small mirrored picture that inspired the following:

Good Morning! Who here likes to go to Grandma's house? Here's a memory of going to my Grandma's house. In her bedroom hung a small mirrored plaque or picture on the wall. Inscribed on the mirror was a short poem by an anonymous author. It said:

Smile

The world is like a mirror
reflecting what we do.
And if you face it smiling
it smiles right back at you.

So what do you think this little poem means? (Hopefully a response or two) That's absolutely right, when we smile at someone or a group you will see them smiling right back at you. Let's try it! Everyone stand up and face the congregation. Now let's see your best smile. (The variety of smiles should be enough to elicit the proper response) See, it appears the little poem is right, looks like the congregation, our world is smiling right back at you!! Thanks, you can be seated again. What do you think would happen if we made it a special point to smile at someone as often as we could? Do you think that we could get the world to smile right back at us? Let's try it this week. Every time you get the chance let's smile. When you're looking out the window at the car next to you in traffic. When you're passing people in the hall at school. When you catch Mom or Dad looking at you. As many times as you can, put on a great big smile just like we did this morning. We can try to get our world to reflect what we do by smiling. God loves it when you smile. It shows that you love one another. It tells Him that you are joyful. So let's try our joyful smiles this week. When you come back next week, we'll talk about how it worked. Let's pray.

The best part of the Children's Sermon was the smiles of the children. Some were missing front teeth, some smiles were very distinct, some smiles were very sweet. The congregation couldn't help but smile because these were our very best smiles. God makes us all smile. A smile is a depiction of our internal joy and happiness. Never let a day go by without a smile. Have a grateful heart for God loves you. Show that you love one another. Smile!!