Some Thoughts About Wrinkles

I remember when Al said to me "did you know you have wrinkles?"

In case you're wondering, that is NOT a good conversation starter!!  We were in the car at the time, and my first response was to pull down the sun visor and flip open the mirror so I could see for myself.  I was relieved to see that they weren't REAL wrinkles.  He was talking about those little crinkles at the corners of my eyes......the ones that are there because I smile a lot.  There are more of them than there used to be.......in part, I must admit, because I'm not as young as I used to be!  But mostly because I'm still smiling!  A lot!

In addition to my "crinkles", there are what I refer to as my "Howdy Doody lines".  Those are the ones that go from the sides of my nose down to the corners of my mouth, and from the corners of my mouth downward.  You may have them too.  In my case, they are partly genetic.  My mother had them.  But, like the crinkles, they are mostly due to the fact that I smile, and laugh, a lot.  A lot!

There is quite an industry devoted to getting rid of wrinkles.  And, in the interest of full disclosure and in case you didn't know, I have contributed to that industry......as a consumer who uses those anti-aging/anti-wrinkle products and as an Independent Beauty Consultant selling lots of pink tubes full of anti-aging/anti-wrinkle products to other consumers.  It's true that I don't get super excited when I notice a new wrinkle.  As I have often said, I don't mind getting older but I don't want to look old!  And it is certainly true that, thanks in large part to the products in the pink tubes but also thanks to good genes, I don't look my age.

But the reason I bring all this up in the first place isn't really about my wrinkles.....or lack of them.  It's more about the reason I have the wrinkles that I do have.  All those cleansers and creams in the pink tubes can minimize or postpone the appearance of the wrinkles that come from aging.  But my wrinkles......the crinkles and Howdy Doody lines......are not so much from aging as from behavior.  As I said before.  I smile a lot.  I laugh a lot.  A lot.

And there's a reason for that.  I choose to be happy.  I choose joy.

Yes, my life has its share of stresses.  We can all say that, I'm sure.  We live in a world full of stress. 

But no matter what the headlines say.  No matter who says what about whom.  No matter who is occupying what. No matter what......in spite of it all......I choose joy.

".....the joy of the LORD is your strength."  (Nehemiah 8:10b  NASB)