Mom, You have a Wrinkle!

My nine year old son, Eli, informed me yesterday that I have a new wrinkle! "Right there, on your face, by your eye." He said. It brought so much laughter to me, that he continued to inform me that when I laugh like that, there's even more wrinkles! What's a woman to do? A new wrinkle on my face, just what I need to hear, I thought I looked so young :-)
Then, of course, I started to think about wrinkles.  I even woke up in the night and found that the word wrinkle was on my mind.  Where in my life do I have wrinkles? Are they only on my face, or are they in the way that I live?  Hmmm,  this is a great discussion to have with God. 
Wrinkles in my life, I began to ask myself what that might look like, and do I even care?  Are wrinkles there to challenge me to grow, or are they something for me to overcome and release?  Do I have the power to remove them, or do they just get deeper and more visible?
And then I began to think about the wrinkles in the lives of others, is it my job to point those out? Or, do I just love them and speak truth around the wrinkles?  Do I give them a solution, or pretend the wrinkle doesn't exist and move away so I don't have to see their wrinkles? Can I pray my wrinkles and theirs away?
The questions hung in the air for me, and I drifted back to sleep. This morning when I went downstairs to read my Bible and pray, wrinkles came back!
I opened a devotional that I read often and it talked about how discipleship cannot be done without counseling. They go hand in hand, together.  Discipleship, my commission from God, is all about pointing out the truth to someone's life. Showing them, Jesus, living in such a way in front of them, that they want what I have.  It's about relationship and love, the kind of love Jesus shows.  In your face love, unconditional love, deeply rooted love in Jesus, visible love. It is fearless! Dicipleship is pointing someone to their glorious future in Christ, and helping them understand Who they are IN Him! 
So, what about the counseling part? Can I counsel a friend? Counseling looks at the past to address problems and weaknesses.  It opens painful doors, sometimes.  Counseling allows someone to be real on an intimate level, and still be accepted and loved. It challenges me to see inside another persons life and not judge them. It provokes me to remember that we are not our past mistakes, but are Children of God.
Every person has wrinkles in the past, and wrinkles in the present.  I know that sometimes I try to avoid them, but by doing that they just get deeper and more visible.  Jesus, sees all my wrinkles, and He guides me to look at them, and then trust Him with each one.  He sometimes sends people into my life to point out the wrinkles, and He sends friends to uplift me while I'm dealing with them. He has the ability to iron them out, and be truth to me.  He challenges me to be real and transparent about every wrinkle, and grow from them. He stays with me through every wrinkle, and encourages me to share the effect they have on my life, not hiding them in shame, but admitting they are there.
Say That Again, dear Jesus.  Use me to walk with others through their wrinkles and strengthen me to be real about mine! Say That Again to me all day long!