Well today I had a little flashback as I was doing my morning face routine in the mirror.

Do you happen to recall your very least favorite song when you were a teenager? The mirror reminded me today. “At Seventeen”. Are you familiar with the song?

I learned the truth at seventeen that love was made for beauty queens…..

And it goes on to further describe me as a teenager, what with “those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces…..” on and on and on. I don’t think I ever finished listening to this song because midway through I’d turn the volume down and slip into a state of pretty deep blues. I don’t know, maybe it had a happy ending??

So tell me, have ya heard this rousing song from the 70’s? I wouldn’t advise finding it on Pandora or Spotify, not that I’ve done that either.

I’m no longer a teenager. Over the years I’ve learned to cope with “the truth” such as Janis Ian penned. And honestly, she apparently didn’t know the truth because I did find love, and next month we will be celebrating our 50th wedding anniversary.

Which does not mean that anyone, including me of course, has ever considered me to be a beauty queen. And really my social graces are likely still lacking a bit. But I have learned one really important lesson.

My last 15 years of working in healthcare involved a clinic that served the underinsured and uninsured. The underserved. The needy. Early in these 15 years I worked at the reception desk as well as being a Rad Tech. X-rays weren’t ordered every minute of the day, so I had time to check patients in and schedule appointments. Through our doors walked marginalized folks. Disregarded, overlooked, ignored by much of society. I watched folks walk up to the front desk in a wide variety of clothing styles, hair styles, tattoo styles, interesting body odors at times. Their body language spoke loudly often. I would quite often see patients that displayed despair, sickness, addictive issues, poverty, depression, anger, downright mean faces at times.

It was quite tempting when the doors would slide open to look at the other receptionist on duty as we would raise our eyebrows and suppress a chuckle or a sigh of disgust. Yes, sometimes we succumbed to that temptation. At least early on in my employment there.

After a short time working the front desk and becoming familiar with the dynamics of this particular clinic, I learned something significant. Our leadership, the faculty doctors in charge, as well as our clinic manager at the time established a climate not always seen in public service. Dignity. Grace. Respect. Acceptance. Kindness. Equitable treatment no matter what.

And I learned something almost subconsciously. No loud words or aggressive instruction from those in authority, no “in service” meetings about how to behave. But from leadership down, the way patients and employees were all treated just became the norm. Kindness, dignity, respect. It was commonly a very refreshing work environment.

In the process it became natural to focus on one thing only: the eyes. The eyes are the window to the soul. The eyes tell a story that even physical beauty can’t hide. You don’t notice appearance when you just focus on the eyes. And that’s really truly the only important feature to focus on. The eyes’ story is legit.

I’m much closer to 70 than 17 these days. The mirror and I have never developed a perfect relationship. And that’s totally okay. Yes, yes it is. I often let myself look into my own eyes and think about my own story. Instead of the curious cornucopia of cosmetic casualties on the rest of me. 🤗

I’m so thankful for that last 15 years of employment. The doctor in charge of it all at Wesley Family Medicine let his light shine for God in such a way that it affected all of us. That’s how it works when we treat others as Jesus would. Light in the dark world.

When I think about what it will be like for believers in Christ when we reach heaven, I imagine an eye to eye connection with Jesus that will be like nothing we’ve ever experienced on earth. But I think we should be giving and receiving glimpses of that caring look over and over right now, as we’re called to “be the light” to the dark world around us.

“Give me your eyes for just one second”….. a much better message from a song by Brandon Heath. Maybe search that one on your music app.