Chick-fil-A and a baby

The rest of this verse says, "I will praise You more and more."
I have loved this verse for a long time.
That's just me. I'm always hoping for the best.
I hope I'll still lose weight even though I ate too much ice cream.
I hope my favorite person won't get kicked off Big Brother.
I hope I get a "good" class of 2nd graders for the new school year.
But deeper than those silly things, I have the greatest hope because of Jesus. He has instilled hope in me. And even though my hopes don't always turn out the way I want them too, and even though I might not want to, I DO praise Him more and more.  Because He gives me hope.


Now for a little story...

Earlier this week, Stewart and I ended up eating at Chick fil A.
We were standing in line and it was pretty crowded.  I was busy studying the menu. (they changed their salads so I was trying to find my new favorite)

Stewart whispered in me ear, "Hey, look at that baby. He's smizing."
(according to Tyra Banks, that means smiling with your eyes. Also, Stewart got jokes)

My very first thought was, "WHY is my husband telling me to acknowledge ANY baby?"
1-He just doesn't usually point kids out like that and 2-He knows I'm mad at all babies.

So, I relented and looked at the baby.
You better believe I had already seen that mom standing 2 people in front of us holding her baby over her shoulder and was doing everything in my power not to.
But when I looked at that baby...I promise you...he WAS smizing. He also just had this little smirk on his face.  We locked eyes and it's like that baby was all-knowing.

He looked into my soul and read it.
He kept looking at me and smizing at me as if to say, "Come on! look at me! I'm adorable! You KNOW I'm cute! You can't resent all this cuteness."

That baby was trying to hypnotize me.
He also mind-controlled the man in front of me to play peek-a-boo with him.
I swear, that baby NEVER changed expression. He was just smile-smirking, smizing and sizing us ALL up.  That baby's mom facing forward had no clue what her kid was doing behind her back.

In that moment, I realized, I could remain resentful, angry, unhappy about my heartbreak. Or, I could relent and let go just a little bit and look back at that baby and admit it. "Yes, all-knowing, smizing baby. You ARE cute."

s i g h....I let go.
I looked at that baby and smiled. Just a little.
That baby smiled right back at me as if to say, "Now, don't you feel better?"
And I did.
It felt good.  It doesn't take away the fact that my heart aches for one of my own, but it felt good to just smile at a little baby and feel happy because a baby was cute. (and smizing)