What's in a Smile?

Thailand is known as “the land of smiles,” and it uses this quality for tourist promotion. When tourists come on vacation to Thailand, most of them are impressed with the graciousness, the friendliness, and the smiles of the Thai people. As in all countries, people smile in different ways and for various reasons. A smile can come from a heart that is full of joy, or it can mask the heart that is full of sorrow. In this book, we will be considering various kinds of smiles (the Thai word for “smile” is yim) and the heart behind them. The Thai themselves understand that there are different kinds of smiles and reasons for smiling. One time a Thai prime minister answered a question by smiling in several different ways at a press conference. Nothing was said, but the answer was clear.

The smile is the presentation, and as we know, the condition of the heart can be presented or hidden by the smile. We have only to think about the smiles of a bride and groom on their wedding day, or the smiles as a family welcomes relatives and friends to the funeral of a loved one, or the smile of a clerk trying to make a sale, to know this. So in this book, we are trying to go to the heart. The Thai language has many compound words about the heart, highly descriptive and quite nuanced. Jai-yen means “cool-hearted” (a very positive quality in a person, meaning they do not lose their temper quickly in anger, etc.), but if we turn it around, yen-jai means someone is dead!

The gospel of our Lord Jesus addresses the heart of people. Our Lord is not interested in surface presentation, but what is inside. Our Lord wants to change hearts. Thus, our prayers need to go behind the surface presentation to the deeper and more important matters of the heart.

It is our intention that this book will help you understand more about Thailand, and we hope that it will help you pray for the people of Thailand. The stories in this book are based on real events, real answers to prayer, real people. They are adjusted with different names and other details to safeguard the individuals behind the stories.

What's in a Smile? - Thailand Prayer Stories (thailand-prayer.net)