Honest Faces

I walked into the hotel lobby where I am staying and passed a sign that read, “Please show your room key.” Showing my room key was to gain entry into the hotel’s breakfast buffet. As I walked by the front desk the man working behind the counter didn’t even raise his eyes to look in my direction. I paused and went back to show him my room key. When I said, "Here's my room key", he glanced up front his paperwork and looked directly into my eyes and said, “I don’t need to see your key. You have an honest face. Have a nice breakfast.”

I don’t know how honest of a face I have, but like you, I want to be perceived as an honest and honorable person. It was 6:00 am. I was dressed in a baseball cap, hoody, cargo shorts and hiking shoes. I needed a shave and my morning shower.  I looked more like someone who just walked in off the street trying to grab a free breakfast than a patron of the hotel who was in town to speak at a local church.

Those who carry the Spirit of God reveal more to those around them than their attire or life-circumstance can transmit. I have seen the depth of God’s countenance carried in the eyes of a tattered homeless person and failed to see it in a well-dressed person of privilege. It is all about the heart being revealed through the eyes, the window of the human soul.

Most of us spend time trying to look presentable and keep in at least a semblance of good physical health. We are a human temple of worship with a body, soul, and spirit created to house and express the presence of God. These three elements of our being are designed to work in harmony with each other. It is the inner peace of God that is picked up by people in the most unexpected moments – especially in a pre-dawn journey to a hotel breakfast buffet before a shower and shave were able to do their magic. If you are at peace with God and with people it really does make a difference. No matter what is going on in your life, your inner peace will transmit a message. It will reveal your true identity in the most unusual moments when you were least expecting it.