Next month I will be acknowledging another birthday. As time marches on, the years begin to show on lots of areas on my face and body. Each day brings a new sag or wrinkle as the law of gravity does its magic. I can be sad about this. I can take drastic action, like getting plastic surgery. Or, I can accept the natural aging process and take the cheap and safer route by creating an instant facelift without plastic surgery – how? By smiling more. It’s amazing! This smiling stuff really works!

As Christians, we have a lot to smile about!  God watches over us and has us in his care. The Bible verse in Isaiah 51:11 says, “Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

If you never thought about God having a sense of humor, check out this real picture of one of his creations – an eel taken from a visit to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. It made me smile.

Women, especially, are bombarded with images of beauty. My husband, Robert, and I will laugh at all of the television commercials with wrinkle creams and related anti-aging products all demonstrated by women in their 30’s, maybe 40’s. Robert will say, “Show us the product on a 60 year old. Now I want to see that!”

I love the wisdom of the Bible. I Samuel 16:7 says – The Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

Our self-esteem doesn’t come from looking in the mirror. Being obsessed with our appearance robs us of our joy.

When I was little, my mother always told me to smile more because smiling made me pretty. Smiles are kind of like joy meters in a sense. They are a transfer of joy from the inside out.

When you need a facelift, smile more. You’ll find just like yawning, smiling is contagious.