Spiritual facelift

Danielle was contemplating her face in the mirror. She noticed how the years were becoming more prominent in the reflection. “That’s of course a silly excuse,” she giggled at the thought. “The years are coming out of me not from my reflection.”

Five to ten years back it was a lot easier to fix herself. Now, there were slight wrinkles on her forehead (for tutoring the kids over time), the eye bags that were bloated like a tarpaulin roof canvas that was bloated with trapped rainwater (for sleeping late doing office work and kids’ stuff for school the next day), and of course some signs of what appeared to be moles, freckles or even warts (she was going to be a frog in no time).

At the moment, her busy schedule didn’t allow her a visit to her derma. Makeup would have to do for now. (That was what she told herself six months ago). So she began rinsing her face, (SQUH-BUHPHREET!) gasped the almost empty tube of facial cleanser. Then she set off to work on her face.

As she was busily applying makeup, she noticed from the corner of her eye that her little daughter silently entered the master’s bedroom. “Hi, Debbie! Wuzzup, hon?”

“How long have you been makeuping, Mommy?”

“Why do you ask, dear?”

“Is it vanity to spend a lot of time in the mirror?” Debbie started to suck on her thumb.

“Thumb out, honey …,” she said. “But dear, putting on makeup is important.”

“But how come we can’t stay long on TV?” she protested.

“Look, sweety, one thing is TV and another is makeup?” she explained.

“You said too much TV is wasting time. Won’t makingup too long be vanity?”

(SIGH!) “Debbie, dear, can you just give me a sec and I will be more than ready to explain why?”

“Okay …,” she smiled and sucked her thumb again.

“THUUUMBBBB!” her mother gritted her teeth.

“Sohhhhrry …,” she quickly dried her thumb on the fringe of her skirt.

Danielle quickly finished the job. One last look and she was felt satisfied. “Wrinkles away!” she proudly said to herself.

Debbie then bounced on the edge of the bed and began doing circles with her dangling legs.

“So, as mommy was saying, fixing yourself isn’t vanity because you want to do it to please people?”

“Please?”

“That’s another way of saying that you want to be attractive for them, and not look like a gorilla with curlers,” she protruded her jaw and swayed her arms aping before Debbie.

“Mom, you’re a pretty gorilla, you know,” Debbie giggled.

“… and one shouldn’t just make oneself pretty for selfish reasons, but because you want others to feel comfortable and be able to have a nice time with you. In fact, that way you’re being charitable by being beautiful.”

“Is that why we dress up for Church?” Debbie began poking her nose.

“Finger OUT!” Danielle whispered loudly trying not to sound angry.

“Sorry!”

“Right! We go to Mass pretty because we want to show Jesus we’re there for Him, and of course by being elegant we also please the others and not distract them with something that’s off or outrageous.”

“And makeup our souls too?”

“I guess that as well. We can’t allow our souls to look and grow old. We must learn to make them always beautiful for Jesus. That’s why we try to makeup with our prayers, little offerings and sacrifices, frequent confession, doing house chores and studying well. So when Jesus looks at the mirror of your soul, He will see Himself and is happy because you reflect His love.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of work,” Debbie said.

“Yes, but if it’s done out of love for Jesus, then it’s worth it!”

“Thanks, Mommy!” she quickly jumped off the bed. “I want to tell Sarah about this too!”

* * *

Before leaving, Danielle went to the kitchen to give the cook some last-minute instructions. Then she overheard Debbie’s soft voice over the telephone.

“You know Sarah, I just learned something new,” Debbie excitedly shared.

(PAUSE … BRIEF SILENCE …)

“Did you know that you can be vain and charitable at the same time?”

“Argh!” (Danielle’s makeup gets ruined.)