My husband rubbed at the deep wrinkles in my forehead, between my eyes. “You always look mad”, he laughed. I realized that I had been carrying some tension in my forehead, presumably the Ohio allergy season effect on sinus pressure. But no, this was different; a worrisome crinkle, permanent and deep. I started to worry about my worrying…”Hmm…I am worrying a great deal lately. Why am I so worried? Gee, this is concerning….”

Fr. Henri-Dominque Lacordaire, a great Dominican preacher who died around 1861 wrote “Be naturally kind-hearted, and you will infallibly become humble. Your eyes, your lips, the features of your forehead will all begin to look different, and you will find that you will be sought after quite as much as you were formerly shunned.” I haven’t considered my deep wrinkles as a lack of kind-heartedness.  If you asked any friend, they would maybe say that I was  kind-hearted.   But ask my husband, my little ones…now that is where the truth awaits. How do I extended kind-heartedness to those nearest to me that God has placed in my care? Fr. Lacordaire tells us “by begging it earnestly and unceasingly of God, and then by striving always to seek others’ pleasure and sacrifice our own to them. That is a long apprenticeship, but goodwill carries a man anywhere.” And a mom as well? That, my friend, is better than Botox.