All over the news today is "market volatility." There are bankrupcies in the works. The fed is getting involved. Corporate buy-outs. The Dow and NYSE hit a rare low yesterday. I was one of the millions looking at our meager retirement investment portfolio, if just to say good-bye to what others would call security. It hit many people. I prayed for our church’s investments throughout the day more than I prayed about mine. As bad as it is, I could only smile. Please don’t take my smile as sadistic or trifling with important matters. I seem to always smile at the most inappropriate times. I believe I smiled when I was in a traffic accident at the very moment of impact. I know I smiled when I was told I needed surgery. When I was in college playing hockey, I would burst into laughter when I would be hip checked, flipping head over heels onto the ice. I laughed out loud when a man rejected my attempts to share the "good news" with him by throwing a beer bottle at me. [He later became a Christian.] I remember my dad disciplining me and telling me to "wipe that smile off my face."
I have never been able to figure out why I laugh or smile in times of personal injury. I certainly don’t like others to be hurt. In fact, I don’t like to be hurt myself. But, I think the smile comes from somewhere down deep as a response mechanism that says, "as tragic as this is, it is not everything." Yes, I know that millions will lose financially. Thousands have already lost their jobs. These are not laughing matters. They are serious, life-changing circumstances. People will lose all they have. Others have used their own greed to injure others. There are injustices that also make me weep. These are certainly days and issues for prayer.
However, they are matters for prayer- but not panic. This is not everything. Jesus told us that life is more than what we wear and what we eat. Perhaps the smile coming from within is saying, "I know something good will come from this." I have even done some self analysis (assuming I’m not crazy) and wondered if it is an inner faith statement saying, "now we’ll see in what we really trust."
Now, I’m not advocating smiling at tragedy or hardship. I am not suggesting that the current national crisis is anything less than an alarming crisis. However, I am saying that our faith should neither be strengthened by nor weakened by difficulties. I am also saying that we should be confident and hopeful that God will still do His good work in the midst of all this. "I am confident in this: He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. . . ." The people and churches who do the best are those who have learned to smile through tough times. They develop an optimism that attracts worrisome people. They even smile and praise the Lord when they face their greatest challenges.
Volatility is here. If you are crying, smile through the tears and pray for God’s help.