Our second great grand baby was born at the end of last year. Since then, it has been a delight to watch her grow.

I will not say she is the cutest baby in the world, but I haven't met any cuter. She was born cute, and I'm not sure what part of the family she got that from.

Sometimes, when in the hospital, I walk by the maternity ward and look at all the new babies. Looking at them, I can see how cute everyone is. I have not found an ugly baby in the maternity ward yet.

The other day, I had to go to Walmart to pick up some items. Walking down the aisles, I saw a few babies pushed around in shopping carts. I looked at each one and smiled, noticing they were all very cute.

Walking down the last aisle was another baby in a shopping cart, and I stopped to look and smile. Then I did something I had not done before. I looked up to see the mother that was pushing the shopping cart. Boy, was I shocked.

I'm not an expert on ugly, but that mother was the ugliest mother I have ever seen. It got me thinking about that cute baby. Will she grow up to be as ugly as her mother?

I have never seen an ugly baby, so I had to ponder why some babies grow up ugly.

That evening, as I was getting ready for bed, I looked into my bathroom mirror. Staring back at me was one of the ugliest persons I have seen in a very long time. I was shocked. How in the world did I get so ugly? Was I born ugly?

The next day, I got out one of my old photo albums to look through it and see what I looked like as a baby. Sure enough, there were several baby pictures of me. You won't believe it, but I was a cute baby. I never gave that a thought before.

Growing up, I never thought of my parents as ugly. After all, they were my parents. I noticed some of my school friends had really ugly parents. I tried to keep their secret because I didn't want to embarrass them.

Looking through my photo album, I saw all those pictures from when I was a cute baby up to my wedding. I will not brag, but I was a cute little guy when I was young. After looking in the bathroom mirror, I wondered what happened to make me so ugly.

The only thing different in my life was that I got married. I'm not going to go there for obvious reasons.

If a baby is born cute, why doesn't it stay cute for the rest of its life? What happened to me that I lost my cuteness, as I got older?

Following this thought about cuteness, I was in Walmart and happened to go down the aisle of beauty products. This is the first time I have looked in this aisle, so I was unsure what I was looking at. All of those products guaranteed that if I used them, I would look beautiful.

I don't want to look beautiful; I just want to look cute! [Sigh!]

I was tempted to get some of the products, but I didn’t know where to start. Where does the journey back to cuteness start?

As I was looking at these products, one of the workers at Walmart came by and said, "Can I help you with anything?"

You do not know how tempted I was to ask her what I needed to restore my cuteness. I stuttered and said, "No, ma'am. I’m just looking for some products for my wife." That got me out of a sticky situation. My wife does not need anything to look cute; she has maintained it since I met her. I have been tempted many times to ask her her secret, but then I was afraid she would tell me.

Maybe when I was young, if I had paid more attention to my cuteness, I might have retained it much longer than I did. But nobody told me what to do along this line. I blame my parents who should have told me how to retain my cuteness. Maybe I can find a lawyer to help sue them for allowing me to become so ugly. How much is ugly worth?

I may have to settle with the fact that I'm just not cute. Maybe the secret is not to regain my cuteness but to slow down my ugliness.

If I’m as ugly as my mirror suggest, how in the world do people around me tolerate me? I’m not sure I could tolerate me. I don’t have an inferiority complex, but I do have an exterior complex and I’m not sure what to do about it.

In my devotions recently, I read this verse. “And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you” (Isaiah 46:4).

That verse got me thinking about growing old. I don’t need to worry about the past because God will carry me through everything. The secret to this is allowing God to be God and allowing Him to do what only He can do in my life.

Dr. James L. Snyder, is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, 1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 34472. He lives with his wife in Silver Springs Shores. James is an award winning author whose books are available at https://amzn.to/2SMOjwO.

Call him at 352-687-4240 or e-mail [email protected]. The church web site is www.whatafellowship.com.