The Woman with the Jowls!

Who’s that woman with the “jowls” looking back at me from the mirror?
They weren’t there yesterday!
(At least, I don’t think they were…)
And that chin!
(Make that chins; where did they come from?)
Is that my Mother looking back at me?
Man, it looks like her (except for the long hair and hat, of course…)

We’re not the “youth” anymore - my husband and I. We’re not even the “young adults” either. We’re middle age - my parents have “gone home” and I am the “elder” these days. I am who the young adults and young married folk look to as “one of the older ones…” And I think - “God! What would You have me do? What a responsibility, to be the elder, the parents, the “responsible” adult, the “decision makers…”

When they look to someone for advice, we’re the ones they look to - God! What would You have us say?

I think about the ones I looked to when I was young. They seemed so wise, so… together. Were they as confused as I am sometimes? Did they question? Were they in awe of their responsibility? Did they feel… old, at times? And did they wonder at what that meant?

Father God, You have brought me to this point in my life - You have brought me to this place of obligation; of duty; of responsibility - now, give me wisdom, and may I serve You…

Lead that woman with the “jowls”, the chins, the gray hair and the few extra pounds to lay all that aside and turn her attention to the experience those things bring and not focus on the appearance they present.

As the “Preacher” said, “Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.”

That is my prayer.

In Jesus’ Name - Amen.