I love visiting my little granddaughters. One thing about kids, is that they say exactly what is on their mind. I love looking in their eyes and having great conversations about butterflies, hummingbirds, why we don’t eat flowers, and even the fact that dog’s breath stinks.
My three-year old granddaughter was sitting on my lap when she looked at me and said, ‘you have stripes on your face.’ Well the first thing that came to mind was that I had not slept well the night before, and I gotten up early to make breakfast for everyone. I rushed to put my makeup on and thought maybe I had not put on my makeup evenly. I asked her if she would help me rub my makeup in. She continued to look at me and said, ‘you have lines on your face.’ It was only then that I realized that she was looking at my ‘crow’s feet’. She had never noticed my wrinkles. She was so cute and innocent. I tried to explain to her that I earned those ‘stripes’. We talked about the fact that when you get older, you get gray hair, and lines on your face from laughing, crying, living life to the fullest, and one day she will have stripes on her face and gray hair. She really didn’t get the fact that these lines or stripes on my face were earned, by learning from bad decisions, making better decisions, and gaining wisdom as I get older.
Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:31
As I get older… I gain knowledge. As I have learned from all the choices I have made, the good choices, the bad choices, the choices I am proud of, and choices that I am not so proud of. I have learned from the people I have invited to surround me, I have learned from the people I encounter day in and day out. I continue to learn from the mistakes I have made. But most of all, I hope that as I ‘earn those stripes’ that Jesus is seen in me.
