Do you ever notice that when you spend a lot of time with the same person that you start to pick of some of their trends, their phrases, and their expressions? We talk about this all the time on the World Race, seeing as we have people from all over the states. Before the race is over all the northerners will be saying “ya’ll” and all us southerners will be saying “you guys.” It just happens.
Even more than shared phrases, I found out this morning that science supports the idea that spending time and sharing certain experiences with someone can actually begin to shape your face similarly! In fact, there is a huge study on married couples and how they tend to look like one another after years of marriage. Studies support that people, often unconsciously, mimic the facial expressions of their spouses in a silent empathy and that, over the years, sharing the same expressions actually shapes the face similarly.
This thought then led me to think about my own image…who I am shaping it after, who I am spending my time with, who I am sharing my emotions with. Sure, I will always look like me and I will always look like my family (thanks to our strong genetics, my sisters will always have to claim me)… but I also have the opportunity to look more like my God. The more I spend time with him, the more experiences and emotions that we share… the more my words and actions will resemble that of His. The more we grow with Him, the more we begin look like him as well! Oh what a fabulous thing to look forward to!
