Thank you for your wonderful responses to our last Ribbon. I love hearing from you and sharing thoughts.
I celebrated another birthday this past weekend, and that always makes me stop and think about how fast time is passing. It’s probably going at the same rate; it just feels faster as wrinkles and various saggings are more pronounced and seem to appear overnight. Just saying! I made the mistake of buying a makeup mirror that has 10X power. Mercy, I can see the cells in my skin! But in order to get the eyeliner close to my lashes, it was necessary. But it does reveal that my face could resemble the map of Canada very soon. I am the oldest child of three, and I always tell people I am the youngest, which drives my sister Janice totally nuts. She has guest blogged before, and I am sure you remember her. She is the baby. Another topic for another day.
A doctor said to me several years ago, as he was grimacing about his clients that love Botox, “Why can’t you women just age gracefully? Put away the magnifying mirrors and be beautiful for the age you are!” As we talked, he said the movie stars that were considered glamourous were in the 1950s and didn’t have all these wonder drugs. They became more beautiful with age. I attributed it to Ponds Cold Cream. My grandmothers used that!
More beautiful with age…that is something to ponder. It is not just our physical appearance, but our countenance and inner beauty that makes us who we are. More beautiful with age is a lovely thought to dwell on. While we will all continue the fight against wrinkles, I have known some of the most physically beautiful women that were so hateful that there was no beauty. Our true beauty, or lack of it, comes from within.
Inner beauty is the kind that seeps from our heart to our face. Our eyes show it, our smile reveals it, and our face has a radiant look that can’t be faked. That doesn’t mean that we won’t have hard times, but even through those times, we can be ourselves. I like to think that what we put in our mind grows in our heart. If we fill our thoughts with lovely moments and things that encourage us, we will see beauty grow in us. It will crowd out the negative that lurks everywhere today. We can bring encouragement to those who are in need of a loving word.
So as I start another year of my life, I pray I will find things to fill my heart that will spill over into my words and my expressions on my face that will be pleasing to those around me. But yes, I will color my hair and slather on the creams…some things will never change!