Enlightenment is a curious thing. It comes in unexpected moments. It comes in all shapes and sizes. I received a moment of enlightenment just recently from the mouth of a babe. I was heading into the local post office to mail out a few checks to pay a few bills. I saw a young woman who had gone to school with my oldest son. On her hip was her little daughter who was no more than three years old. After talking for a few minutes she shared a story of her high school days with my son and we both smiled. Just then her little girl pointed up to the heavy folds of wrinkles around my eyes. “What are those?”, she asked. I smiled again and said they were laugh lines. She looked at me for a second and then said, “You must laugh a lot!”

On my way home that funny, enlightening moment stayed in my mind. “Yes”, I thought to myself. “I have laughed a lot over the years. I have smiled a lot too. I have been blessed. I have been happy more often than not. And if my heavy wrinkles are a sign of that, then it is a sign I am pleased to share with everyone I meet.”

Our laughter, love, and smiles don’t just produce wrinkles in our skin either. They also help our hearts. They also line up our lives. They also carve out the shape of our souls. Every act of kindness, every act of sharing, every act of caring ripples out to touch the lives of countless others. Every moment that we love each other here on earth shines so brightly that it is seen in Heaven. Every smile we share makes God smile as well.

Learn to love your laugh lines then. Learn to embrace your wrinkles with joy. The next time you look in the mirror: touch, smile and admire them. They are a sign that you have laughed a lot. They are a sign that you have loved a lot. They are a sign that you have lived a lot. They are a sign that you are being the person God meant for you to be.