My wife and I have noticed over the past few weeks that little baby girl Uberdox has a great smile, k’ayin hara. We don’t remember the other two kids smiling so much at such a young age.
I must admit, as a parent, it’s a wonderful feeling to know that you can hold a little baby in your arms, make funny noises and faces and get a beautiful smile that lights up a room. It is true nachas.
This got me thinking about how I show joy (or don’t appreciate the tov) towards Hashem. My creator is constantly making things happen in hope of invoking a smile from me.
I’ve heard the shmuzzes and read the seforim about how “happiness is a state of mind”.
In fact, I heard on a tape by Rabbi Pesach Krohn that according to Rav Hutner, the eye interprets how we see, the ears interpret what we hear, the nose interprets what we smell (you get the idea). Rav Hunter asks, “What does the mind interpret? It senses happiness”.
I know how happy I feel when I make the newest member of our family smile. I can only guess that this parallels how Hashem must feel when I chose to smile at all the brachos that are constantly being showered upon me. I need to take a minute and smile more often.
Still hoping for more comments on the post below.
very true. nice thought
Being that our girls are close in age, I imagine we have some similiar thoughts. One thing I am finding striking between my last baby and this baby is what they smile about.
My last baby seemed to always be smiling. He didn’t ever seem to let up except when he needed fed, changed, etc.
This baby doesn’t seem to smile as much, but when she does it seems to be wit a great deal of satisfaction, like there was a real purpose.
I love opening my mouth and watching her respond with a smile.
as always, great analogy.
You must have Haskafah in your head all the time.
I wish! Thanks though. I just try (and usually don’t succeed) in seeing thing differently.