What I saw this morning when I looked in the mirror made my mind scream, “I’m not that old!.”
My wrinkles are becoming pronounced. I have dark, age spots appearing on my checks. My neck skin is hanging loosely. Nothing about my appearance reflects a gracefully aging matron, which my trickster mind rationalizes.
Maybe scheduling a session with a skin care specialist at the mall will help. But that means spending big bucks on new cosmetics, facial cream, and gentle moisturizing cleansers.
I might faithfully use such products for a week then my resolve will start to slip if I follow my normal behavior patterns.
I’ll rationalize that I’m running late this morning so I will take a few shortcuts. I intuitively know that no one will notice I am not using the concealment stick under my foundation to camouflage my age spots.
In a day or two I will wonder if the foundation is actually making my skin look youthful enough to be worth the effort to carefully apply it. Using similar logic, the rest of my skin care improvement program will be eliminated before the end of that week.
Sometimes my spiritual life is like my skin improvement program. I start with great enthusiasm, but my schedule gets tight so I shorten my prayer time. I hit the snooze alarm an extra time so I decide to read my Bible later in the day — but forget. Before long, God is only an occasional thought instead of an integral part of my life. This should not be. My relationship with him is too important to let it slip for even a few hours.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways. Romans 11:33