This painting by Austrian artist Eduard Veith shows a scene at the mythical Fountain of Youth. Throughout history, people have sought magical ways to restore their youth.
Photograph by Fine Art Photographic Library/CORBIS
TODAY THE WORDS are “I AM YOUNGER THAN I USED TO BE”.
Before you jump up to call for me some mental assistance since you are thinking, “Has she lost her mind?”, I want to explain how this is the topic for today. No, I am not the inventor of some wonder cream or some magic potion for anti aging. I have not found the fountain of youth proclaimed to be discovered by Ponce de Leon in Florida.
An excerpt from National Geographic says,
“But the tale of the search for a fountain of youth is so appealing that it survives anyway, says Ryan K. Smith, a professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
“People are more intrigued by the story of looking and not finding than they are by the idea that the fountain might be out there somewhere,” Smith says.
No original documents survive from Ponce de Leon’s Florida expedition. Spanish historians writing long after he died in 1521 may have created the story that he was seeking the fountain to make fun of him because he was an old man who wanted to restore his sexual vigor, Smith says.”
If you watch TV or look at ads, you will see the latest and greatest return to youth potions, creams, lotions, vitamins, etc. and in America alone, we spend billions of dollars. Arlene Weintraub, who spent four years researching Selling the Fountain of Youth, says the anti-ageing industry has grown from virtually nothing to a staggering $88bn in 10 years, with few products and procedures regulated in the same way as normal pharmaceuticals and medical cures. Much of it is based on replacing the body’s hormones as people grow older. But it also includes extensive use of products such as Botox, vitamin supplements and dietary fads. All have become hugely popular, but there is little proof that they work – or are 100% safe.
My summarization of all of the youth seeking crowd, is a memory of one of my great aunts who she and her husband were deaf impaired and could not speak except utter some words and she was childless. Her skin was like porcelain, her hair was snow white, and the biggest makeup she had on her face was a soft pink lipstick outlining the most beautiful smile topped by some incredible blue eyes. It was amazing she seemed to not have any wrinkles (but in reality she did) and the secret was when she smiled, her wrinkles just disappeared. God gave us smiles to soften our faces while pulling our skin up in the most flattering way. Smile and take years off our faces is an instant year reducer and guess what? It costs nothing but a heart dedicated to living a happy life.
DAILY FEATURED BIBLE VERSE:
John 4:14
But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
(c) copyright 2013 Arline Lott Miller. The material here copyrighted, use only by permission.
