I took my mom.
It's our thing.
Something interesting to note about Southern Gospel concerts is that the audience is usually filled with a sea of white hair (in other words, older folks).
Here's my theory as to why that is:
Southern Gospel music tends to focus on heaven and leaving this world of sadness and misery behind. Older folks have been here a while longer than us young'uns (yes, I am still going to claim to be a young'un) and they have seen all the garbage of this earth and they are ready for this amazing heaven that God has promised us! Southern Gospel music is all about hope and I'm pretty sure every one of us could stand a good, heavy dose of hope.
I don't have white hair yet (although my daughter is probably going to cause that to happen sooner rather than later) but I'll tell you what: I leave these concerts with my mom and we are in the best of moods. You know why? Because of that heavy dose of hope. Life here on earth is hard, and tiring, and frustrating, and sometimes I just want to crawl up in bed and lose myself in Netflix so I don't have to think about life for a while. But that hope of heaven through Jesus is going to get me through and make me crawl out of bed each day and keep on living.
Now, I didn't actually start writing this particular post with the intention of discussing the benefits of Southern Gospel music (although there are some naysayers who maybe needed to read it and need to quit dogging on the genre - Wooooahhhh...soapbox! Sorry.) But I noticed something at the concert this evening that was really neat and I wanted to share.
First of all, my mom is beautiful. But when I pointed out 4 eligible bachelors to her (in jest) who were all at least 15 years her senior, the giggling and smiling face I saw on her was priceless in its beauty! Seriously, people, my 55 year old mother is gorgeous! (But no, I won't tell you her real age).
So a little later, another lady walked past me and I made eye contact and smiled at her. (Now I'm used to having my smiles ignored for a number of reasons. First of all, people don't expect it and they don't know how to react! I am a frequent smiler - I'm a big fan of smiling. It often takes people by surprise. Second of all, there are a lot of crabby people who forgot how to smile 20 years ago. Thirdly, people often don't recognize me and can't understand why a stranger would smile at them, or maybe they should know me and can't remember and suddenly I've confused them.) Getting back to the lady: she looked at me and immdiately smiled back. Her eyes lit up and she looked 20 years younger.
A little while later the concert was coming to a close and an older gentleman walked by. I purposely caught his eye and gave him a big smile and he did the same right back to me! Do you know how much more attractive people are when they smile?! Even old guys!
Do the smiling! It makes a difference in lives, people! You are contributing to the beautification of this earth!
So I guess you got a two-for-one tonight: A preachin' on the benefits of Southern Gospel music and, for those of you who don't care about what type of music I enjoy, a friendly reminder to smile at people. Honestly, those smiles made my night.
Go make somebody's day: smile at them. Even if it weirds them out a little bit.
KC
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