I noticed something amusing while I was shaving this morning: the lines in my forehead have quit disappearing all the way. They are easy to see too because the long, thick, wavy hair that used to cover them doesn’t come down that far anymore. It has become trapped high up on top of my head in between my ever rising forehead in the front and my ever growing bald spot in the back. It hasn’t quite stopped growing on the sides of my head yet, however. In fact, my hair even sparkles in the sun now that there is more silver in it than brown.

I know that society must think I am strange to be laughing at this rising and wrinkled forehead and silver hair, but I really don’t mind my body growing older that much. I know that it is a natural and beautiful process that lasts from the second we are born until the second we die. I even enjoy watching those laugh lines appear when I smile in the mirror. It makes me happy to know that most of those wrinkles are in the right places and come from almost forty years of laughter and smiles. I look forward to them deepening even more in the future. I myself have never seen a smiling face no matter how wrinkled that was not beautiful.

Laugh at your wonderful wrinkles then. They are the evidence of a million smiles. Rejoice in all the signs that show how long you have lived and how much joy you have shared. Delight in the laugh lines and love lines that write their beautiful history in your face. Toss your face cream in the garbage and send the botox needles and plastic surgeons back to Hollywood. You are beautiful just the way you are.

Remember that God loves you and wants you to be happy. You were made to laugh and smile. You were made to choose love and share joy. If a lifetime of doing so brings a face full of wrinkles then a face full of wrinkles must be a wonderful thing.

Joseph J. Mazzella joecool@wirefire.com