In Distress, WE All Long To Find Our Face

​Forever the most profound moments of my life will be meeting my two sons for the first time. Not their first words or their first steps, but the first time their eyes met mine.

Even before they could speak or understand language, they searched for a face. And when they found it, they could not look away. For in it, a human face, they found connection. And for the very first times in their lives, they felt and saw the initial sparks of human healing.

There is something hardwired in all of us to look for a face in times of distress. Even as adults, we seek it. You ever feel the sweet relief of a familiar face approaching you in a room full of strangers? The sweet relief of finding your friend in a crowded restaurant?

It's like magic, isn't it?

We are always looking for the kind of face that doesn’t flinch when we share our struggles. The kind of face that doesn’t rush to fix us, but stays close enough to remind us we’re not alone in our feeling that something just needs to be fixed.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, I’ve seen the posts. The well-meaning reminders to check in with those around us. To let people know we’re here if they need to talk.

I believe those reminders are important.

But I also believe in this: sometimes the most healing thing we can offer isn’t a conversation, it’s our presence.

It’s our face.

And not just any face. A face that has come to mean something. A face that doesn’t carry judgment or shame or fear. A face that, over time, has become a place of welcome. A lighthouse face. A face that has said, again and again: “You’re safe with me.”

If you’ve ever had someone like that in your life, you know the power of it. You know what it’s like to have someone walk into your pain and without a single word make you feel much less adrift.

Like a lighthouse....

But there are so many who’ve never had that. They don’t know what it means to look into a face and see light. And in the seeing FEEL light. For them, all the well-crafted words in the world might still fall short.

Which is why our face matters.

One of my favorite scriptures says, “May the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you” (Numbers 6:25). It reminds me that God’s healing often comes in my imagining his face. His sweet and precious and forgiving face.

And in imagining his face, maybe I can imagine my own face shining upon others - with grace.

Not perfection. Not glass half full positivity.

Just grace.

We’re in a time when it’s easier than ever to hide our faces. Behind screens. Behind fear. Behind busyness. But healing begins when we risk being seen, and when we choose to truly see others.

So if you’re wondering what to do this month, maybe it’s this: let your face be a safe place. Let it say, “You belong.” Let it be the face someone else remembers when their eyes are searching.

Because we come into this world looking for a face.

And we never stop looking.