Oh, tender friends!
The beauty magazines are reminding me that I want to be forever young.
They’re up to their old tricks. The magazine “New Beauty” has tips to “lose 30 pounds fast” on its most recent cover. The December magazines advertised the “best holiday looks.”
Generating fear of physical signs of aging is profitable. Googling “anti-aging market revenue 2021” reveals that it yielded $60 billion last year. The market is expected to generate $120 billion by 2030. The prediction is that our national obsession with remaining youthful looking will double over the next 7 years.
The only time I see these things is on the checkout line at the grocery store. I don’t have social media and don’t spend time browsing the internet. Yet I’m vulnerable to the tricks sometimes.
If I’m honest, I have to fight this influence on my mind. I see the wrinkle on the left side of my chin, the width of a hair. I see the beginnings of crow’s feet around my eyes when my husband takes a picture of me. I am aware of how missing one workout is visible on my frame, causing my thighs to look noticeably wider. (I wryly call it Westward Expansion in my mind).
I want to be above noticing these things. I want to be above the way the beauty business tries to convince us to spend more on our outward appearance. Most of my friends would say I’ve never been vain- but here I am- vulnerable to the fear of aging peddled by various advertising venues.
Why am I vulnerable? It’s because the calendar reminds me of the inevitable sadness that every child faces in this life.
I don’t want Cub to ever worry about me or my husband growing old. I want to keep his heart from ever having to break. I want his giggles that split me into pieces to keep on…forever.
Cub has the perfect skin of childhood-clear, soft, creamy white and full of collagen. When I hold him up next to me in the mirror, I see how far from perfection my own face has strayed. Despite everything I do to stay healthy, gravity makes consistent gains.
No matter how well you age, you can’t totally avoid the physical reality or emotional pain of growing older.
This desire pushes me to forging deeper, more meaningful relationships in our church. Because the reality is that death will come, hopefully in the very far future. And when that time does, I want my son to know that I am with Jesus and he will see me again.
When that time comes, I want to take a walk with God and open my arms to heaven with the peace of Enoch (Gen. 5:21-24).
Advertising seeks to convince us that the fountain of youth is one special diet, miracle pill, or one surgery away.
The bible tells a different story. It is in heaven, with the God who chose to take human form to redeem the universe, where “death shall be no more” (Revelation 21:4).
Living this reality, the reality that we’re not yet in our temporary home, relying on God throughout each season of life, is how I choose to age gracefully.
Thank you for sharing!
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For those of you who are new, thank you! To plan your readership, I’ll be posting a listicle about things I wish I’d known about parenting on Monday and then a keto-friendly mac and cheese substitute on Thursday. I’ve just discovered this culinary magic this week. I’ll post my information about water-only fasting the following week. I know I hadn’t mentioned my culinary discovery when I last explained future posts, but I just discovered it…and it feels life-changing to someone who hasn’t eaten mac and cheese since 2014 (that’s me). It’s also paleo and gluten free and just…life-changing. I hope I’m not overselling here, but I’m pretty amped up about this share.
tea and tenderness 
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