Reposted from @wellwateredwomen I blame my deepening forehead wrinkles on my wild eyebrows. I blame my softening chin on those extra pounds from the surgery I had last year. I blame the dark circles under each eye on not taking five minutes to apply even an ounce of makeup this morning. I blame my forgetful brain on the number of tasks I have at work. I blame my eagerness to avoid all mention of my upcoming birthday on my spiritual maturity—I don't need anything this year, don't even mention it. But my blame game is covering up the ache of my heart. Another year older, another year closer to the day when someone will look at me and say, "You can tell she was beautiful when she was young." And while I am so much more than the sum of my physical appearance and abilities, I know too that I am an embodied soul. These wrinkles and sags and drying skin and forgotten memories are all some part of my identity. So I blame to hide the shame that I am not what I once was. And I have few answers, only that the constant pain in my gut of losing who I once was reminds me of the words of the One who sacrificed his body on the cross for me: "whoever loses his life for my sake will find it" (Matt. 10:39b). So I ask myself, can I lay down my beauty, my youth, my body as worship of the One who laid down his life for me? –Maggie (@maggie__combs), Content Director #wellwateredwomen #growinginGRACE #truthtrumpsfeelings #lampandlight https://www.instagram.com/p/CcobFuVvyDk/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=