I do; I see faces around me all the time, and not just the lovely ones passing by who grant the gift of a smile. I am not embarrassed to say that I have seen faces in back-up truck lights, tree bark, pebbles on the shore, in the clouds, high-up in the towering sunflowers, on the design of building facades, on sidewalk utility covers, garage door handles, and in so many flower patches—especially the individual Bougainvillea blooms. And so from today’s image, please meet a recent comical visage encountered in one of my favorite neighborhoods. I call him Mr. Tubhead.

I make this disclosure because it seems to me to be a very foundational part of the wiring in our fearfully and wonderfully made neurological systems--to recognize the shape and structure of a face. Even my camera has been built with the technological parallel of the wonderful gift in its facial recognition feature.

If it weren’t for the first recognizable element in our babyhood--our Mother’s face--we could not have survived. She kept us so reassuringly close, as we took in the nourishment of life, that the glowing quality of the face of love is impressed upon our hearts for a lifetime. When the baby gains her clear vision, she is found constantly tracking with the mother’s voice and her beloved face. There is a numinous quality to that most important face that makes it nearly the religion of the tiny one. Without the caring and wisdom seen in those eyes, the pretty snuggly nose, and the mouth for kisses, sweet words, lullabies, and laughter there would be no significant reason, nor any possible way to grow.

The face as the vital standard for encouragement in our lives--it makes me clearly understand why I regularly find the celebrated features in places where they are not consciously meant to be.

And then there is that other thing, about the face, that also makes me so curious on my daily photography walks: It is about how rarely eye contact is made between passing strangers, but when it happens, and a smile is emblazoned in the connection, it is better than waiting on a hillside alone to greet the sunrise. It warms and makes the rest of the day golden--like a secret package of untold wealth that has passed between two strangers out of a lavishing that King Solomon would have coveted.

I believe that the smile is not something light and whimsical. I believe it is the strong foe of cynicism, a portal to broken heartedness, the opulence in the study of lighting, and the deep remembrance of parental love—placed there by the Heavenly Father Who holds our heart’s greatest longing.

A passage in Psalm 4:6 tells us how as His people we long for the face of the Lord, like a baby for the mother’s glance, and especially so in our times of brokenness: “Many are saying: ‘Who will show us any good? Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O Lord!”

The Lord’s face, lifted upon us, like the greatest light of all holds us closer than a nursing mother. The radiance of His love is the one embedded deepest in our hearts. Looking into His face we know that loving Him is not about the formalism of religion, but about relationship with the One Who always holds us the closest. He brings the wisdom, and the caring to save us in the only way possible—by the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and soon coming return of His dear Son, Jesus. Without it we could not grow; we are given eternal life by His perfect care.

I’ll continue to enjoy the faces that are all about in the gardens and the street side places, because it serves to remind me of the Face above all Faces, and how He has provided such sweet reflections of Himself in my loved-ones, and also in the strangers, who bring their brightness with them in their smiles and laughter. I’ll also know of the encouragements upon His lips for me at all times as we are assured of this in Romans 15:5, and also, I’ll hear the songs in the night that Job speaks of in his 35^th Chapter. All mothers learn their lullabies from the Father who is above all.

Even though Mr. Tubhead is pretty funny, I am so blessed that the Lord placed a deep message to me in this image. The Lord brought me laughter over the spiky-haired redhead--like a mother does to her child with a toy. But most importantly, He gave me a lesson to watch longingly for His most beautiful Countenance. His light, shining from His face, will always show me what is good for my nourishment. And He leaves the toys out for the children's delight, as well